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Driving Innovation: How the Taxi Was Invented

If you're like many New Year's Eve party-goers, perhaps you made a very important phone call after a night of celebration – a call to your local taxi company. In addition to being a safe ride home after a night of revelry, riding in a taxi can be a fun – albeit pricey – way to explore a city. Have you ever thought about what inventions paved the way for taxis?

Not long after the automobile was invented, entrepreneurial drivers began to hire themselves out in competition with horse-drawn carriages. It didn't take long for the idea of drivers-for-hire to catch on, and the taxi cab was born.

The name "taxi" is derived from the taximeter, the instrument invented to measure the distance traveled (or the time taken) to determine an accurate fare. If you've ever sat in rush-hour traffic in a major city, you may find yourself cursing the inventor of the taximeter!

Today, cities such as London pride themselves on their knowledgeable taxi drivers. Many tourists take a special trip in a famed London "black cab" simply to hear the driver spill out unique anecdotes and historical trivia about the city's diverse history.

In order to drive a black cab in London, drivers have to gain "the knowledge," a thorough memorization of the city's myriad streets. It can take three years of hard training, and three-fourths of those who begin the program eventually drop out.

As it turns out, all of that intensive studying seems to affect a cabbie's mind. In a recent study by University College in London, researchers discovered that cab drivers' brains "grow" on the job! That is, the hippocampus, or the part of the brain associated with navigation, actually increases in size to store mental maps of the complicated city. (We at InventHelp® can't help but wonder what an inventor's brain would look like).

One driver with 40 years on the job showed a considerably larger hippocampus than members of the control group. He said that while a big brain helps on the job, a calm temperament is a bigger asset!

Here in the United States, nothing says New York City like a yellow taxi cab. The concept of the yellow cab was invented by Harry Allen, a cab owner who realized that yellow is the easiest color for potential riders to spot. As anyone who's tried to hail a cab in New York City knows, the cabs don't really need the extra advertising – they're hard enough to get as is!

As we move into 2007, InventHelp® wishes you a Happy New Year. And if that same "Lose 10 Pounds" resolution is getting old this year, consider a new option: "Be More Inventive!"

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