Take a Cab and Surf the Web

Next time you read a newspaper in a taxi, it may be a digital one. Next September, some cabs in Barcelona will test a new multimedia system, useful both to the driver and to the passenger. The system, connected through satellite, will keep the taxi always located and in line with the emergency service. It also will include a navigational program to ease driving in the city. Passengers will be able to read their online newspapers or whatever they like through a tactile screen connected to the Internet. And if a client wants to talk to the driver and they do not understand him, a translation program online will facilitate the communication. The project, called Europetaxi, has been promoted by the Union of the Catalan Taxi (Sindicat del Taxi de Catalunya). The Barcelona project is not the first one in the world (New York and Paris have similar systems), but it is the most ambitious one. (Here’s an article about it, in Spanish; registration required.)