To become a taxi driver in London is no trivial task, requiring literally years of study to pass stringent examinations. In contrast, it seems the only requirement to become a cabbie in New York City is that you are a human being. Gotham's ultra-fast, ultra-proficient taxi drivers of yore are long gone, replaced by a geographically challenged lot that often require directions and are more interested in talking on the phone than getting you to your destination swiftly.

In short, I'd rather be driven by a robot.

Petr Kubik's robotic taxi concept would fit the bill nicely: it's sort of like a huge Roomba, minus the vacuum and plus passengers (2). You'd hail one with your cell phone, then the automated taxi would whisk you off to your destination.

My only suggestion would be to actually add Roomba-like functionality to the concept--if you had fleets of these simultaneously driving people and cleaning the streets, New York would not only be cleaner, but perhaps you could retire those noisy street-cleaning trucks.

By the by, you can see more of Petr Kubik's work on Coroflot.