Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
This is a result of a set of truely great rules about London Cabs that have evolved over centuries called the Hackney Carriage Rules.
To be a Licensed London Black Cab the vehicle needs to be able to do some extreme things that a normal car can't do - such as do a U-turn in about a 20-foot circle. That is why all the 'Black' Cabs in London are not based on normal cars. Black Cab drivers also need to pass 'The Knowledge'
Minicabs are a relatively recent invention (70's I think) which are NOT allowed to be hailed on the street, have much simpler vehicle rules and the drivers don't have to do 'the knowledge'. Minicabs (legal) can often be pretty grotty. Often you get unlicensed (illegal) minicabs hanging outside pubs and clubs - these can be even more dodgy.
'The knowledge' is the about 2 years full-time work needed to know all the required addresses and routes in London. You cannot drive a London Black Cab without doing this. Becoming a Black Cab driver in London is therefore a pretty serious long term commitment.
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.
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.
You need to know about "cabs" in London. First there are two kinds, proper cabs, or "black cabs" as they are often called (actually hackney carriages but I digress). Currently these require a specifically authorised vehicle with disabled access, insurance, regular maintenance, etc, etc and above all else a licensed driver who has passed "The Knowledge" by which they should be able to know any street within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross. Yes, and that is pretty much actually true, get in the back, give an address and they will be able to get you there without referring to a map (it's pretty incredible), for this you pay a premium price.
Then there is mini-cab scum, which can basically be a bloke and a car, and that's about it, you negotiate price with varying rates of success based on time of day, distance, number of passengers, liklehood of one of the passengers despoiling the vehicle and blood alcohol level of both driver and passenger. There is virtually no regulation of this service. Very scaryIn between these two are more reputable mini-cab firms, not the knowledge of the black cabs but not quite so dodgy as the bloke on the street, but here to there is a lack of regulation and a sliding scale of reliability and competence from just above dodgy to as good as a black cab but without passing the knowledge (for a variety of reasons, some not so good).
I have cabbed it all over the world from the grease covered toyota's of Jakarta, to hailing some guy with his groceries and wife and kids in a Lada in Moscow, to cabs of varying kinds in London. Black Cabs for all their faults offer the best service in the world (and much comedy value if one gets the right cabbie who would like to share with you his view on the current state of the world).
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."