NYC Wants Ideas For "Taxi Technology 2.0"

An anonymous reader writes "New York City is soliciting ideas from the public about possible technology improvements for its 13,000+ fleet of taxis. TLC (the city agency in charge of cabs) is 'seek[ing] input and information on ways to enhance the technology systems in each taxicab for the benefit of passengers, drivers and owners alike.'"

Comments

Frebreze?

[AlexBirch]

Seriously, I started smoking to get the cab smell off of me.

Re:Frebreze?

[Anonymous Coward]

They need to make those little chrome urinals bigger. One isn't big enough. I usually start with the one on the door, then move to the one in the middle of the back of the front seat, then finally on to the one on the remaining door. Usually making a mess all over the back.

Would be nice if there was a better way of opening them up too. That chrome flip top lid must get nasty. They were smart enough to make the flushing automatic (very quiet by the way) but you have to manually lift the lid. Doesn't make sense. It takes some force and snaps closed quickly, so watch out.

Any cab I've been in, the little dime sized urinal cake holder is always empty too.

Ozone Generator

[Maniacal]

http://www.interstaterentals.net/id84.html

Nothing worse than a smelly cab driver on a hot summers day. Eliminate odors electronically and help repair that pesky hole in the ozone while you're at it :)

Electric Cabs

[Doc Ruby]

Make all new taxis run on 100% electric. NYC's electric power comes 40% from nuclear (Indian Point), the rest from high-efficiency (up to 85% in CCGT) natural gas plants. The resulting switch would cut a lot of the smog remaining in our fairly green city.

Oh yeah, make the cars amphibious so they can go around the bridges/tunnels bottlenecks that clog so much NYC traffic.

Re:Electric Cabs

[Doc Ruby]

The cabs all return to their garages every 12 hours. There are only under a dozen gas stations in Manhattan, amidst 2+ million people and hundreds of thousands of cars, so they refuel at garages.

Gasoline cabs get a lot less than their rated city mileage in NYC, because they constantly accelerate and decelereate. Which probably puts them down around 15MPG tops, but which makes regenerative braking electric cars really shine. A 15 gallon tank gives them 225 miles on a tank. That's less than the 300mi an electric car gets.

Cab drivers usually don't own their cars (which typically cost about $50K apiece after they're fitted to legal requirements). But they do pay for gas. So they'll be very happy to get cheaper mileage with less refueling stops.

Re:jkhsad ass7e bcadjh

[Legrow]

Or how about a GPS system mounted in the back, where you could input the address you wanted to go to?

It would have the added benefit of showing you the trip you were taking and your expected arrival time; it'd also give visitors a way to make sure that the cab driver isn't taking a longer way for a higher fare.

How about a method for electronically hailing cabs

[bigtrike]

How about a method for electronically hailing a cab?

Part of the inefficiency taxis is that they drive around looking for fares, while interested riders may be waiting nearby but out of visual range.

Some method of being able to hail a cab from a cel phone with built in GPS would improve the ability of cabs and customers to find each other. The technology should be fairly easy to set up, simply requiring smartphones on both the passenger and driver end and at least a couple of servers to manage the information. Costs could be paid for with advertisements or very small fees from participants.

The biggest barrier to such a system is critical mass, which would be easy to obtain if the city simply picked an official provider of such a system.

Make them waterproof.

[DougWebb]

They all seem to disappear when it rains, which I assume is because they can't get wet. So, they need to be waterproofed, or at least be given big umbrellas.

Umbrellas might work, actually. The umbrella vendors pop up out of nowhere when it rains, like hibernating frogs in the desert. Maybe they could be put to good use covering up the taxis.

Electric + GPS + SmartPhone Apps + Bike Friendly

[copponex]

First, make many of them electric. Two hundred mile range vehicles are possible today, and according to this, there are 800 million miles driven each year by 13,000 taxis, which is 170 miles, according to my calculator and my brain. Beware: my brain is currently on pain meds from dental work. Charge all the unused electrical capacity of the grid at night to local Taxi stations, install some flywheel charging systems or a simple battery swapping system, and it will help us develop the next generation of electric vehicle infrastructure.

Next, equip all taxis with good GPS. Put a screen in the back so the passenger knows they're not being taken the long way or the wrong way. Use this data to calculate traffic and anticipate passenger needs based on events, weather, holidays, etc. Allow cabbies to see each other on the GPS, so they know if they are crowding certain areas unwittingly. Allow people to log into a website to see real time anonymized traffic flow information.

Give out decent prize money for Smartphone apps that become public domain. Allow a person to stand at a street corner and hail a cab by pressing a button, or request a timed pickup with a non-refundable deposit charged to their credit card.

And finally, make all cabs bike friendly, with a quick and secure way to attach two bikes to each one. This will allow those in a hurry to bike to work, catch a cab to a movie, and then bike home.

Re:jkhsad ass7e bcadjh

[Bob Wehadababyitsabo]

This is actually already done and present in all New York City cabs. http://www.google.com/search?q=nyc+taxi+gps

Re:jkhsad ass7e bcadjh

[Repton]

I heard a FOAF story about a taxi driver who installed a GPS in his taxi. He'd always say to new fares: "You can have the GPS route, or you can have the route I think is best. Which do you want?"

Many, perhaps most, people would pick the GPS ... and promptly get stuck in traffic, because it doesn't know when to avoid main roads, all the shortcuts available, etc. It paid itself off in a few weeks..