GPS-based calculations for distance traveled could replace the digital fare meter and its mechanical method of tracking ride distance in New York City, but that’s not all to go, as earlier reports indicated that the city’s taxis might be doing away with what Engadget reports to be those “annoying” TV screens in the rear of taxis.
This revelation comes as a result of city regulators approving a new GPS-based distance tracking system’s pilot program. The Wall Street Journal reports that the new program to track the distance traveled by passengers riding in cabs is designed to display the fare information on a large tablet.
But the tablet has the potential to do much more than display the fares of customers, as it also has the ability to house the credit card reader, GPS system and it could, in light of TVs getting nixed, display the news and entertainment programming currently displayed by the cab’s TVs.
The recently approved pilot program, which is scheduled to last for one year, will reportedly roll out across just 1,000 cabs in the city — a mere fraction of the Big Apple’s 13,600 yellow taxis.
The regulatory body behind the recent approval of the pilot program is the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).
During the course of the pilot, the TLC plans to test out a variety of different systems.
In other taxi industry coverage here at Immortal News, a recent study has found that over 90 percent of vehicle emissions could be cut through the employment of automated electric taxis.
