touchscreens in taxicabs

December 30, 2007

Minority Report style ads coming to taxicab near you. Ok, they aren’t reading your identity off your retina to display targeted ads, but GPS will display ads based on location. I had heard a few years ago that animated Flash ads were being placed on top of NYC taxis, but I can’t find a reference to that now. I did find this story
about taxitechnology.com which is offering ads on touchscreens in 13,000 New York taxicabs.

It’s hard to tell from the marketing materials, but it looks like this has been in the works for quite a while. I thought the interface was pretty ho hum for all the hi tech — shiny buttons, uninspired design. Any New Yorkers tried one yet? Is it cool or lame? helpful or intrusive?