If you want to hire an autorickshaw in the national capital, now you will not have to run from here to there. With a new App "Pooch-O", you can book auto through smartphone.

The application was launched by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday.

Delhi Intergrated Multi-Model Transit System (DIMTS) has develped "Pooch-O", which will now allow users to locate autos, fitted with GPS, nearest to them and can then call its driver, whose numbers are registered with DIMTS, on their mobile phone and book a trip.

Pooch-O app can be downloaded on only android phones from Google Play store and thereafter, people have to ensure GPS of their phone is on.

Launching Pooch-O at his secretariat, Jung said that this is very advanced technology, which would be very useful especially for women travelling in auto at night.

"After booking auto through this app, commuters can share their travel details on Facebook and Twitter so that their friends and family members can get to know about their locations. Besides, there are several security elements in this app," Jung told reporters.

"Pooch-O users can also calculate estimated fare for their trip and even track the auto to check if it is coming towards them or not after calling its drivers. This app will soon be available on iphone. Auto drivers will also be benifitted with this app as they will easily have passengers," S N Sahai, managing director (DIMTS) said.

Sahai said that there are 24,000 autos in Delhi which are fitted with GPS and hope that more autos will come under GPS so that a large number of people can be befitted with this app.

Additonal CP (Traffic) Anil Shukla, who was also present, said that if a driver refused to take "Pooch-O" users, he would then be penalised with a heavy penalty.

"Traffic police will be asked to connect this app to its website, their traffic apps so that if auto driver refuses commuters without any reason, strict action would be taken against them," Jung said.