Ride sharing services like Uber have already taken away a big chunk of business from regular taxis, which is why it’s not uncommon for us to see taxi drivers protest against Uber in many countries, but they have had to step up their game in order to compete. Flywheel is an app that makes regular taxis work like Uber and the app has now been approved by regulators in California, meaning taxis across the state can now use its “TaxiOS” technology to replace the existing mess of dispatch, meters, navigation, credit card and advertising systems.
TaxiOS is much similar to how a driver would use Uber on their smartphone, everything is present in that one app, Flywheel says that it now provides California with a “level playing field for taxis in their war against Uber.”
The decision to allow taxi owners across the state to use Flywheel comes after a successful pilot program was completed in San Francisco. All taxis in California can now decide to use Flywheel, the company has approval to offer its technology in the state for one year pending full type certification.
Some Uber features are offered as well, such as the ability to split fares between multiple passengers who want to carpool, and allowing drivers pick ups closer to their homes. Whether or not this will help California taxis to claw back market share from Uber remains to be seen, since the company already allows regular taxis to pick up fares with uberT, and then again there will always be customers who would prefer arriving in a black car service as opposed to a traditional yellow cab.
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