Idea: Taxi hire system

Ole Tange openmoko.org at tange.dk
Wed Dec 27 17:23:17 CET 2006


This idea would probably make sense to implement for a company that
sells taxi hire administration systems.

Each taxi is equipped with

    *      a Neo
    *      a USB hub (powered by the car)
    *      a USB printer (powered by the car)
    *      a USB credit card reader (powered by the car)

The Neo will have internet access somehow. This can be done using GPRS
or using an external radio (short range taxi radio or wimax) connected
through the USB hub.

The position of the car is transmitted to the taxi central server.

Using push-to-talk the driver can call the central. Voice is VoIP.
Using push-to-talk the central can broadcast to all drivers. Voice is
VoIP.

The position of the free taxis is public including the direct phone
number of the car. It can be seen on a webpage, but can also easily be
downloaded via XML. You can select that you only want to see cars
close to a certain position.

If a customer is looking for a free car, he will download the list of
free cars close to his GPS position. The cars will be displayed on a
map with an arrow indicating which way the car is heading. By clicking
on the car a customer will call the direct phone of the car and can
arrange for pickup. The GPS position of the customer can be
transmitted directly to the car for easy locating the customer.

When the customer is in the taxi the driver will mark the taxi as
occupied. The position will still be reported to the central server,
but will no longer be published.

The customer will tell the destination which will be put into the Neo
using map and spelling. E.g. spell substrings of the street and all
streets matching all the substrings will be shown on either a map or a
selection list. The correct street can be selected.

The Neo will give directions and give ETA. It will also give an
estimated price and the actual price.

When arrived at the destination a receipt is printed on the USB
printer. The customer can pay by credit card (using the credit card
reader) or by his mobile phone. Data are sent encrypted via the
Internet.

When the taxi is driving it will record road conditions and report
these, so the navigation planner in other taxis will be updated.

/Ole
-- 
http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/ideas/TaxiHireSystem




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