When summoning a taxi in a busy urban center, waiting for a driver who is available, paying attention and willing to pick you up can get frustrating…not to mention the annoying “upstreamers” just waiting to snag that ride before you. This curbside taxi communication system was created by a group of design students at the Xi’an University of Design and Technology and recently won the Red Dot Award for a public space concept. It uses a system of lights, tactile curbside buttons and driver interaction to make hailing a taxi quick and easy.

When a customer needs a cab, they just step onto the pressure-sensitive plate on the curb. The damage-resistant transparent top layer fits over a polypropylene lower layer that is equipped with a color-changing light. When the station is idle, the light is blue (it turns off during daylight hours to save energy). After a passenger stands on the plate for ten seconds, his location information is sent to the nearest taxi. When a driver accepts the fare and begins to travel over to the passenger, the light changes to green. The system seems like an altogether civilized way to summon a taxi, but it would have to be limited to those cities without mischief-loving citizens who would activate the plates just for fun.

The post Conceptual Taxi System Puts Civility Back in Urban Transport first appeared on Gajitz.

Electric vehicle designs are getting crazier and crazier, it seems, and this one is no exception. It was designed by Hazman Malik who calls it the Green Cab. The all-electric vehicle is charged through a solar panel on the roof which keeps the battery, located in the rear compartment, charged throughout the day.

The all-electric design makes for a silent, emission-free car that passengers can feel good about riding around in – though since the car lacks doors, the driver may be wise to stay off of the interstate and stick to uncrowded surface streets.

Perhaps the oddest part of the design is the configuration of the seats: the driver actually sits behind the passenger in the rear of the vehicle, using joystick-like controls to maneuver the car.

The designer refers to the car as a “tour cab,” which makes sense considering the strange arrangement, video game-like controls and absence of doors. The Green Cab would be perfect for leisurely guided tours around cities or urban attractions: like a Handsome Cab but more likely to get the PETA stamp of approval.

The post Openly Green: All-Electric Taxi Concept Driven by Joysticks first appeared on Gajitz.