Elon Musk might face a challenge from Mukesh Ambani

If reports are to be believed Ambani’s Reliance Industries has acquired a US-based transportation company developing pod taxis. The conglomerate had invested in the transportation company called skyTran, three years ago, through its subsidiary Reliance Strategic Business Ventures.

This comes within days of Ambani announcing that he will make batteries for electric vehicles ahead of the boom resonating with Musk’s plans with Tesla. While Tesla makes its lionshare of revenue from the actual cars, Musk has invested in energy generation and storage in a big way.

With this, there are chances that India might witness a battle of the billionaires unfolding between Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani and founder of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk.

Both skyTran and Musk’s Hyperloop are in the business of making pod taxis. Also called personal rapid transit (PRT), these are a type of small public transport facility that feature small automated vehicles that operate within a network of specially built tracks.

Hyperloop and skyTran taxis use the power of magnets to move around at speeds that can theoretically reach upto 240 kilometers per hour.

Hyperloop, already, has three projects in the works within India. One connecting Mumbai to Pune, another increasing the connectivity to the Bangalore International Airport and the latest endeavour to connect Chandigarh to India’s capital city, New Delhi.

Musk had earlier revealed that his company may set up a Gigafactory within India once it starts manufacturing electric vehicles in India. Its office is already set up in Bangalore with plans for a manufacturing plant soon to follow, according to reports.