"Several hundred black London taxis have been fitted out with GPS receivers, mobile phones and data transmitters that will eventually allow them to be hailed by anybody in the capital with a mobile phone.

Using mobile phone location data, which can pinpoint a mobile phone to within a couple of hundred metres, service operator Zingo can hook up the caller to the closest available taxi. The idea, according to Zingo managing director Mark Fawcett, is that the potential passenger can then talk directly to the cab driver, describe where they need picking up from and where they want to go. If there is no taxi available then Zingo says so."