It is amazing to see how not just taxi fleets but also trucking fleets are adopting location-based services and communications technologies at a rapid pace. The magic is in how these disparate products interact with each other within the vehicle as well as connect to the cloud.
Case in point: I was taking a taxi in Portland a few weeks back and saw that the taxi had a number of electronic communications devices:
Taxi Cam - this records still images that can be accessed by Portland police in case of problems (such as: running off without paying the cab fare or punching the driver for not driving faster!). The taxi cam product is built by VerifEye Technologies. Gordon Davis blogged on Portland taxi cams at Taxi Cameras, Do the Math, apparently these cameras cost $1500 a piece.
Dispatch Computer - this enables the driver and the dispatcher to communicate to help the driver figure out where to pick up the next passenger. The GPS coordinates of the device are uploaded to the dispatching system. This system was built by Digital Dispatch Services/ DDS. An ancillary business here is that all the GPS probe data gathered by these taxi fleets can be aggregated to provide traffic reports.
Two-way taxi radio - built by Motorola - enables voice communications with the dispatcher and other taxis in the fleet. Motorola's taxi radio products are listed here.
Cab meter - standard
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