Union minister Nitin Gadkari  File Photo
India

New rules soon for driverless pod systems in city, NCR towns

Considered one of the best 21st-century urban transit systems—Metrino—has small passenger cabins called ‘Pods’, which are suspended under an overhead network of light guideways above main streets

Parvez Sultan

NEW DELHI: As existing regulations don’t support the implementation of automated driverless electric “Pods”, the Centre is planning to amend existing rules and frame new standards to speed up the introduction of the innovative urban transport system.

Union Road Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari, on Tuesday, said that the National Highways Logistics Management Limited is working on the plan of pod tax implementation, and the project is expected to start soon.

Considered one of the best 21st-century urban transit systems—Metrino—has small passenger cabins called ‘Pods’, which are suspended under an overhead network of light guideways above main streets. All rides are individual and on-demand.

Each unit can ferry 5-6 travellers. “The system is called Metrino, a public transport running on electricity. We have started some projects. The security standards of this system are very difficult to implement. We faced difficulties in their implementation.

Then, there was a lot of difficulty in making it “Make in India”. Now, once again, we will study all the standards because in the country’s law, we do not have the approval of such a system,” said Gadkari.

The minister, first in 2016, announced plans to implement the ambitious Personal Rapid Transit or Metrino in the National Capital Region (NCR).

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