NYC's New Taxi Debuts

As I blogged about several times last year, New York City held a contest to replace its fleet of Crown Victoria taxis, which are no longer being built. My personal favorite, the futuristic entry from Turkey, was not selected. The winning Nissan entry debuted this week at the New York Auto Show.

The city’s first purpose-built cab will host myriad bespoke features calibrated to the distinctive needs of New York’s taxi users. These include a standard driver’s navigation system that will preclude ever again having to explain which numbered streets precede and follow West 17th, a panoramic glass roof for staring up at the young men on those Hollister billboards, a low-annoyance horn tuned to a frequency that’s only audible to other cabbies (or so we hope), one 12-volt and two USB charging ports so all your batteries will be as fresh as the scent inside the cabin, fuel-economy numbers that double those of the neolithic Ford, and antibacterial pleather seats that provide lower rates of Ebola transmission than most other fabrics.

Meh. I guess the USB port is a nice touch, but I can't see the average taxi ride providing useful charging time. And that glass roof is gonna be a bitch in the summertime.