New technology that may silence chatty cabbies

THAT enlightening chat you have with your cabby as you crawl along in the traffic between Piccadilly Circus and, er, Piccadilly Circus, could be a thing of the past. From the beginning of January, a new in- cab, onscreen news and entertainment service will provide you with up to 80 minutes of interactive distraction instead.

For a six-month trial, 100 cabs will have 10-inch monitors built in between the two rear-facing seats, on to which an onboard computer will run four channels.

You will be able to hop between them using the button controls on either side of the cab. "It's an exciting first step for multimedia on the move," says Richard Dale, MD of MEI, the company that programmed the system.

It includes a London guide for tourists, with a historical guide; shopping and events information updated monthly; an entertainment channel "running classic comedies and movies to suit all tastes"; and a business channel, which will also feature a "tickertape" pager newsflash service provided by BT.

"It is a state of the art system," says John Marquis, chief executive of Cabvision Ltd, which is behind the scheme.

The company spent a year and a half developing it, and hopes that it will soon become global. In the future, it will be possible to update all the cabs remotely via modem from a single source.

All the content is stored on a hard disc built into a black box inside the cab. Every month or so, the box will be updated by a mobile data "fill-up" studio. The plan is to run 20 minutes of content on each channel, including a safety announcement at the beginning of the programme fronted by the BBC's Sue Carpenter.

But what about those of us who want to hear the cabbie's wit and wisdom on everything from Delia Smith to Chechnya? "We've been very careful about that," says Mr Marquis.

"The speakers are on the back shelf and the preset volume is not too high - you can mute it if you like. The system switches on automatically with the meter, but the driver can switch it off if someone doesn't like it."

At the moment, the Carriage Office is deciding whether to allow the cabs to carry "a discreet sign" to identify their new-media capabilities.

But for most of us, finding an empty cab at this time of year will probably be excitement enough.

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