Now, an Indian company in Bangalore has designed what it says is the three-wheeler of the future -- an electric rickshaw, run partly on solar power.
The company wants to produce 800,000 in the next five years.
The buzz and the beep of auto rickshaws ... this is the soundtrack of India.
Millions of them crisscross the country every day, ferrying people and delivering goods.
But autos, as they are called here, are choking the continent they serve.
In India's mega-cities, air quality is a major issue -- not only do autos contribute to the problem, those who travel in them worry about what they are inhaling.
A 31 year-old man named Prejin has just caught a rickshaw into central Bangalore, but he says he prefers other forms of transport.
"Due to a lot of dust and, right now, there's all this pollution and stuff like that, nowadays, I prefer more to have, actually, taxis, because it's much healthier, I think."
Asked if he worries about the air pollution, Prejin says, "Ah, yes, everyone does."
A team of entrepreneurs in Bangalore says it has a solution.
For three years, the entrepreneurs have been tinkering away in a small workshop, engineering a green revolution.
They have retrofitted nine auto-rickshaws, which they have been trialling in three Indian cities.
The engines run on batteries that can be charged not only from the grid, but also with solar power, as RJMS director Rakesh Sharma explains.
"So we have already fitted one panel on the top of the auto, which can increase the mileage from 25 to 30 per cent. And now, the next phase, we are going to make charging stations. (The) rooftop will be of solar."
The World Health Organisation says 13 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in India.
It names Delhi as the world's most polluted -- worse, even, than Beijing.
Autos, of course, are only one part of a complex problem involving dirty industry and other vehicles as well.
But Greenpeace India's Vinuta Gopal says solar autos could be part of the solution.
"I think it's a brilliant idea, and I really hope it works. Autos are used across the country as a form of public transport, and it would make a huge difference to shift them to electric-, especially solar-, powered. So, I do hope this example works. I use an auto, and I'd really like it if it was solar-powered."
To mass-produce the new autos will require heavy investment and political will.
Millions of rickshaws will need to be refitted and thousands of charging stations built so drivers can easily change their batteries.
In some cities, auto drivers have already been forced to make the shift from diesel to the less-polluting LPG.
But Vinuta Gopal of Greenpeace says, while many were initially resistant, the drivers did not lose money as they had feared.
"So I think there can be a case made for a shift to electric, and that might even be an economically viable solution, as long as you took a longer period of time into consideration."
Some Indian cities like Delhi already have a portion of electric rickshaws.
But those who have tried solar previously have found it unreliable.
