NYC taxis are going high-tech to compete with Uber
If you can't beat them, join them.
Rather than fighting Uber in courts, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has found a new way to go after their high-tech competitors: catching up.
NYC cabs will be outfitted with "black box" data recorders to evaluate the safety of drivers. The boxes record data including speed, acceleration, braking and other "unsafe driving factors," a press release said.
The pilot program comes as part of Mayor de Blasio's highly touted Vision Zero initiative, which has a mission of eliminating traffic fatalities.
"The data collected by this piloted technology will help our industries reinforce good driving practices that will ultimately keep drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists as safe as possible," TLC commissioner Meera Joshi said in a statement.
For now, the technology has been installed in ten vehicles, including yellow cabs, Boro Taxis and private for-hire vehicles.
The release did not say when the technology would be rolled out for all cabs.