New York’s Cab of the Future: The Nissan NV200 (Complete with Odor Control)
Taxis have a long history in New York City, often consisting entirely of a single model of car, like the Checker Marathon in the ’60s and ’70s, Chevy Caprices in the ’80s, and Ford Crown-Victorias after that. Since Ford stopped making the Crown Victoria in 2012, though, the taxi fleet has become a hodgepodge of cars chosen from a list of 47.
But not for much longer. The New York Taxi and Limousine Commission has now cut through the last of the legal issues, making the Nissan NV200 the official Taxi of Tomorrow.
The custom-built NV200s will come straight from the factory already dressed in taxi yellow paint with service logos. Among the other interesting features are a transparent roof panel and a charging station–plus an ingenious carbon air circulation system designed to neutralize odor.
Nissan actually received this commission back in 2011, after a two-year open competition by the New York TLC to find a unique, commercial-grade vehicle that could be altered and used in New York’s famously difficult traffic.
Of course, there is a reason the NV200 wasn’t implemented right away. Almost immediately after the TLC decided the winner, the lawsuits started coming in, looking to block the incoming Nissans. Eventually, these lawsuits made it all the way to the New York Supreme Court before it was definitively ruled that yes, the city of New York can tell taxi drivers, who are part of the city’s public transportation system, what to drive.
News Source: Autos CheatSheet
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