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Using GPS to Hail Cabs
The Benefactor writes "The guys at The
Register are running a story about using
mobile phones to hail cabs in London. Using GPS technology to locate the nearest available cab and to direct it to where you call from this should make frantic arm waving to get their attention a thing of the past."
They're using GSM-based location-services that many cellphone-providers across europe are starting to provide. GSM is the european standard for digital cellphones, and you can't get an exact position, only tell which base station the caller is connected to. Therefore you can find people in the same area by matching which base-station sees which users.
Harald
It's been decades since the London fog was so bad that you would need GPS to flag down a cab. They can see you on the streets. You're the tourist dressed wearing the Princess Di T-shirt with an overpriced camera around your neck jumping and waving frantically.
A GPS signal might help them find you when you can't tell them where you are, which, for most non-Londoners (and many residents), is quite common, but it ain't about to replace flagging down the cab that you can see driving down the street.
This is something I could never figure out in London. When I asked the concierge at the hotel to call me a cab, he/she either called a so-called minicab (usually something looking sleazy and semi-legal; never having any real meter) or informed me, that the black cabs are "just around the corner" and calling them by phone is "not possible". Tried it in many hotels, going to many destinations. I wonder what they will say now: "do you have your GPS with you, sir?"
You really should remember that before you push the call button, that you have your Hitchhiker's Guide with you! And keep in mind that you can't find Babelfish just anywhere...
Whew! This water sure is cold!
ahhh yes...good to see that technology is enabling us to take every bit of exercise out of our lives :)
All you need now is a Segway to haul your ass to the cab you didn't have to wave your arm to hail!
There are literaly thousands of cabs driving around, i never have to wait more than a couple of seconds before i am in a black cab.
This seems like a waste of time to me and another way to pay off the londons congestion charge (look it up americans and quiver)
On the other hand if they could tie this into some sort of escort service and have loverly young ladies delivered to your location then by all means bring it on.
Akira
Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
A black man still can't get a cab!
Grand Theft Auto III, anyone? :)
http://dtum.livejournal.com
Every Londener knows that trhe worlds most efficient intelligence network is the london taxi drivers. they all have what is known as "The knowledge". This sinister sounding piece of mental conditioning is actually a requirement before the driver gets a taxi licence.
Now we're giving this sinister shady organisation access to more technology to control our lives. Not only do they aspire to contain all knowledge, but they also want to knwo where each and every one of us is at any time.
Fortunately we have resistance. The London Underground is fighting against these evil beings. The LU provides a service that prevents mobiles from being used in this way.
Is this really a problem? I've never been to London, but any city I have been to, the cabs were almost frantic to pull over and let you in. In New York, I've had cabbies pull over and ask if I wanted a ride when I was just standing there.
This seems like a solution waiting for a problem...
--trb
I'm all for utilizing technology to simplify and improve our quality of life, but come on. Walk your ass out to the curb and raise your arm over your head. If you rather spend 10 minutes fucking around with your GPS just so you can find the 2 cabbies who are geeky enough to use it, have fun. More power to you. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the equivalent of coding 10,000 lines just to produce "Hello, World".
Just keep me posted when the hookers start using this technology - then you'll see some jumping up and down and arm flailing on my part.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Of course that's not the real problem. At least here in DC, I play a constant game of hopping in and out of cabs until I find a driver willing to take me to my neighborhood. It's not tough at all to hail a cab while you're downtown, the problem is finding a driver who is willing to take you to a neighborhood that he considers dangerous (or at least unlikely to result in a return fare). You can get that cab downtown/in the tourist areas real easy - but just watch how fast he'll work to get you out of his cab if it turns out he doesn't want to drive where you've asked him to take you. What we could really use is a system that not only tells a driver where you are but lets him know in advance where you'd like to go. Then I wouldn't have to spend a half-hour boucing in and out of cabs until I find a driver willing to take me home.
This will be great if it comes to the states. I'd love to see the drunken rabble at around 2AM in major cities trying to figure out how to operate these things when they can barely figure out how to operate their arms at that time.
I try to make everyone's day a little more surreal.
Where this would be useful, IMHO, is if your company had an account with Zingo and you could hail it knowing that you didn't actually have to foot the bill yourself (rather than wait for a CabCharge one). Sadly, they don't actually do corporate accounts, so I still can't see why you'd want it.
Their FAQ is pushing the ability to get one at night, or when it's raining, without having to stand outside, which is fair enough, I guess. If you're a jessie.
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
...is if GPS then tracks the cab to ensure American tourists aren't taken from Heathrow to central London via Slough.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
got this in leicester too: http://www.star-trak.co.uk/select.htm it works but is a bit inaccurate. You can even send a sms to a special number and it will tell you what bus will be coming to you stop and how long it will take.
There is no god
In London, only the licensed black cabs are permitted to to pick up passengers who hail them on the street. But there are also armies of more-or-less-dodgy minicab operators who work on the basis that the car is pre-ordered, by the customer calling the minicab company's office, who dispatch a car to you by radio.
This new system sounds like it would be ideal for the minicab operators, because a punter calling in and using this service is in effect ordering the car as opposed to hailing it on the street, yet the turnaround time should be a lot quicker.
The black cab drivers are going to hate this...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2946129.stm
....cab drivers hail you!
And I'm not kidding either. The streets of Manhattan are so thick with yellow cabs that it rarely takes more than a wink or a nod for them to pull over.
It's gotten to the point where cabbies will see me walking out of my building a block away, honk their horn a few times to get my attention, and then I can respond with - literally - a tilt of the head or a slight shake and they're off.
So in NYC, this isn't going to do much good most of the time.
HOWEVER -- there are those insane times (i.e. shift changes, rain, randomly) when there are no cabbies anywhere. Perhaps then?
Ferrari and other exotic car rentals in New York
Zingo uses mobile technology to put passengers directly in contact with black cab drivers in their area that are free for a fare.
I've heard of affirmative action, but this is ridiculous!
The coolest voice ever.
The real point is that they are charging the punter $2.56 american (1.60 Pounds, I just looked it up) for just hailing the cab!
Then you can look forward to at least another pound for engaging the taxi, and then you can finally start paying by the mile.
I'll wave my arms, it's free.
The FCC has mandated that all cell phone operatores be able to locate an emergency caller by the end of '06. So far Sprint and Nextel have put GPS chipsets in their phones, but only Nextel gives the JVM running on the phone access to the location data. If you have a Motorola i88s or i58s you can download a midlet that will track your cell phone and update a web page with your location
Free cell phone tracking
Blimey.....that's quite the convenience fee!
Still, I guess it beats the grotty Tube.
-psy
Mobile Phone operator Singtel in Singapore has implemented a range of location based services since last year.
:
One of the services is to get a cab. The landmarks are locations close to your current position (in most cases within a 100m)
"You will receive a SMS listing the landmarks near your location for your pickup location. Select your preferred pickup location and confirm your booking. You will receive a SMS indicating the taxi number and estimated arrival time once the booking is successful."
Another good feature is busses. You can type your destination, and it will direct you to the nearest busstop, and give you the busnumbers and transit locations. Unfortunately they have implemented this for only one of the three main busoperators. Still it is a good start.
Many African Americans get left behind by cabbies avoiding "any black male" in certain parts of the city... By using this system, a caller would be able to signify whether they were actually *picked up* by their cab, and possibly assist in reprimanding cabbies that aren't doing their job... or pointing out (publically/online) which companies don't provide the necessary level of service. (By having a proxy website dispatch the calls)
meh
In-cab system: 2 fares available
Cabbie: Cab. Show phones.
In-cab system: 1. Motorola Micro-TAC. 2. Sony Ericsson P800.
Cabbie: Cab. Delete 1. Show route to 2.
...
I already have an embedded technology called EYE which allows me to locate nearby taxicabs...
Of course the government and law enforcement would probably use any of this technology in a malicious way eventually too. How long until passive GPS/cell signal is built into driver's licences and ID cards in the interest of "improving infrastructure" somehow and then turned into a vast monitoring system?
And if it is all privatized, so much the better. Private companies are allowed to do things as citizens that the government wouldn't dream of.
Our system used to work like this (Black & White Cabs in Brisbane, AU):
The area covered is divided up into "zones". Each zone has one "designated" rank in it (although there may be numerous actual ranks).
When you enter a "zone", you "book into" it via the computer in the cab. This puts you into a queue. Any jobs that come in over the radio that are determined to be originating from that zone will be handed off the cabs in the queue, FIFO.
If you are actually in the designated rank in a zone, you can book into the "rank zone". This gives you preference in the zone queue (ie: everyone in the "rank zone" will be serviced before anyone else in the zone queue, even if someone in the latter has been waiting longer). You *have* to be parked in the rank to be allowed to book into the "rank zone" and if you aren't you will probably be dobbed in by everyone else on it.
If there's no-one booked into the zone where a job originates, the computer will search all surrounding zones for someone booked into one of them. If there's still no car found, it will use the GPS system to locate the nearest vehicle (it's actually a touch more complicated, but this is a rough summary).
Thus, the GPS really only becomes a factor when you are *way* out in the sticks, because anywhere remotely busy will always have at least one cab booked into it.
The only other things the GPS is used for is making sure cabs can't book into zones they aren't actually in (or close to) and locating vehicles in the case of emergency.
This system seems to me to be a fair way of balancing the customer's right to quick service and cabbies' right to be able to consistently earn a reasonable income. Speaking from the perspective of an ex-driver, I don't think I like the idea of a job always going to the physically closest vehicle. I can see it starting a *lot* of arguments.