This week, the New York auto show opens for the public on Friday, April 6. Inside the Jacob Javits Convention Center, automakers will display their wares, including newly unveiled models soon to be available and some glimpses into the future.
But let's face it. The favorite ride of New Yorkers comes in yellow and has a light on the top. Yes, it's the taxicab.
"Stepping off the curb and hailing a cab is the quintessential New York act, symbolizing the power and freedom of our city," says Deborah Marton, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space.
Indeed, the gas-powered taxicab celebrates 100 years in New York City this year. In celebration, the auto show will pay homage to the cab and offer a glimpse of what a taxi might look like in the future with Taxi 07, an exhibit put together by the Design Trust for Public Space, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the design and use of New York City's parks, streets and public spaces.
Taxi 07 will include multimedia presentations, a film portrait of New York City cabbies and a display of historic taxis. In addition, the Design Trust has sponsored an exhibition in which designers and various companies in the taxi business have reinvented the taxi for the future, with 21st-century taxi stands, alternative-fuel taxis, wheelchair-accessible cabs and present-day cabs with significant improvements.
Students from the nation's leading design schools have also created visionary scale models of futuristic taxis for the display. These schools include Art Center College of Design of Pasadena in California, the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. It's sponsored by Standard Taxi.
As I'm on the faculty of CCS in Detroit, I've been pleased to see that one of my students, Trenton South, a senior in industrial product design, has been among four CCS students selected to go to New York City (his first visit) to conduct research and tour the firms involved in the project. Uninterested in cars per se, South opted to invent a taxicab stand for the future. He got the idea as he watched New Yorkers getting drenched in the pouring rain as they hailed cabs.
South envisioned a taxi stand that enables easier access to cabs and helps cabbies at the same time. His stand is high-tech, environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
The taxi stand features a cylindrical tower with a large screen, accessible to everyone, including a person in a wheelchair. Tap the screen and a map of the city lights up. He's divided the city into five color swatches. Cab riders select a destination and the screen lights up the color of the area.
The cylindrical tower connects to a translucent roof, upon which a sedum shrub is planted. "I wanted to incorporate grass, because it is being used all over the city to help promote a sustainable life of tomorrow," says South. The stand is powered by two solar panels, and the power it generates would eventually offset the cost of construction. In fact, the stand can generate city revenue through advertising.
Kia Motors America and Smart Design, Antenna Design, Birsel + Seck also have collaborated to transform the new Kia Rondo crossover into an innovative yellow cab.
The Kia Rondo Taxi is notable because it combines small exterior dimensions with relative spaciousness on the inside — "an ideal combination for New York City streets," Kia is quick to remind us. And the Rondo cab is more fuel-efficient than New York's current favorite cab, the Ford Crown Victoria.
While Kia provided the basic vehicle for the taxi, Antenna Design contributed a more legible roof light, which quickly communicates the cab's availability in a variety of lighting situations. Smart Design with Birsel + Seck designed an interior space that keeps the driver's belongings organized and accessible, and also features an L-shaped partition to both protect the driver and create a more open social environment for the passengers. To improve comfort and safety as well as passenger accessibility, there's a Bruno-built motorized front passenger seat for those with limited mobility.
Other entries in the taxi-of-the-future display:
But let's face it. The favorite ride of New Yorkers comes in yellow and has a light on the top. Yes, it's the taxicab.
"Stepping off the curb and hailing a cab is the quintessential New York act, symbolizing the power and freedom of our city," says Deborah Marton, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space.
Indeed, the gas-powered taxicab celebrates 100 years in New York City this year. In celebration, the auto show will pay homage to the cab and offer a glimpse of what a taxi might look like in the future with Taxi 07, an exhibit put together by the Design Trust for Public Space, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the design and use of New York City's parks, streets and public spaces.
Taxi 07 will include multimedia presentations, a film portrait of New York City cabbies and a display of historic taxis. In addition, the Design Trust has sponsored an exhibition in which designers and various companies in the taxi business have reinvented the taxi for the future, with 21st-century taxi stands, alternative-fuel taxis, wheelchair-accessible cabs and present-day cabs with significant improvements.
Students from the nation's leading design schools have also created visionary scale models of futuristic taxis for the display. These schools include Art Center College of Design of Pasadena in California, the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. It's sponsored by Standard Taxi.
As I'm on the faculty of CCS in Detroit, I've been pleased to see that one of my students, Trenton South, a senior in industrial product design, has been among four CCS students selected to go to New York City (his first visit) to conduct research and tour the firms involved in the project. Uninterested in cars per se, South opted to invent a taxicab stand for the future. He got the idea as he watched New Yorkers getting drenched in the pouring rain as they hailed cabs.
South envisioned a taxi stand that enables easier access to cabs and helps cabbies at the same time. His stand is high-tech, environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
The taxi stand features a cylindrical tower with a large screen, accessible to everyone, including a person in a wheelchair. Tap the screen and a map of the city lights up. He's divided the city into five color swatches. Cab riders select a destination and the screen lights up the color of the area.
The cylindrical tower connects to a translucent roof, upon which a sedum shrub is planted. "I wanted to incorporate grass, because it is being used all over the city to help promote a sustainable life of tomorrow," says South. The stand is powered by two solar panels, and the power it generates would eventually offset the cost of construction. In fact, the stand can generate city revenue through advertising.
Kia Motors America and Smart Design, Antenna Design, Birsel + Seck also have collaborated to transform the new Kia Rondo crossover into an innovative yellow cab.
The Kia Rondo Taxi is notable because it combines small exterior dimensions with relative spaciousness on the inside — "an ideal combination for New York City streets," Kia is quick to remind us. And the Rondo cab is more fuel-efficient than New York's current favorite cab, the Ford Crown Victoria.
While Kia provided the basic vehicle for the taxi, Antenna Design contributed a more legible roof light, which quickly communicates the cab's availability in a variety of lighting situations. Smart Design with Birsel + Seck designed an interior space that keeps the driver's belongings organized and accessible, and also features an L-shaped partition to both protect the driver and create a more open social environment for the passengers. To improve comfort and safety as well as passenger accessibility, there's a Bruno-built motorized front passenger seat for those with limited mobility.
Other entries in the taxi-of-the-future display:
- Standard Taxi, the sponsor of Taxi 07, has a purpose-built taxi that fully meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It has an integrated, recessed ramp to accommodate wheelchairs, motorized scooters, baby strollers and walkers.
- Hybrid Technologies presents a zero-emissions electric taxi powered by lithium-ion batteries.
- And, at the opposite end of the spectrum, RIDES magazine displays what it calls the world's fastest taxi, a Ford Crown Victoria with exaggerated ground clearance, bright paint, tall wheels and a 1,000-horsepower hydrogen-fueled V8 engine.
General Motors, in celebration of the New York cab's centennial, is placing into the city's taxi fleet service the only vans approved to transport individuals with mobility-restricting disabilities or spinal cord injuries.
This is such a big deal that New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has designated Taxi Week in New York City from April 6-15, coinciding with the public days of the auto show. During that time, the Empire State Building will be lit up in yellow to commemorate the taxi's centennial.
Read Michelle Krebs' daily analysis of the auto industry on AutoObserver.com.
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