Wireless Developer Network - Daily News

[ View Today's WirelessDeveloper NewsWire ]
Today's News | WirelessDevNet DevZones | Yesterday's News | Submit News | News-"wireless" Top Stories! | Classifieds | Around-The-Web | Wireless DevZones!

Voxpilot and eTX launch OLondon Taxi Pointı: Black Cabs for mobile users London, Dublin; August 7, 2003 - Anyone who has struggled to find a black cab in London is now able to locate the nearest taxi and book it, thanks to an automatic text/voice booking system, implemented by eTX (UK) Ltd in conjunction with the pan-European VoiceXML company Voxpilot Ltd. Londonıs new Taxi Point service removes the need to wait on the street searching for a cab. Instead, customers can use one of the new "Taxi Points" ­ actual signs that use a unique four-digit code to identify an exact location within central London. People wishing to use the service text or call the location code to the Taxi Point short code (83220). Using GPS tracking, the service identifies and book the nearest available black cab from one of the participating taxi fleets, delivering a confirmation SMS, and an alert when the taxi has arrived. The service costs the user £1, and Taxipoint signs will be positioned in locations such as public and private buildings, restaurants, theatres and bars. More than 5000 Taxi Point locations will be created in London over the next three years. The scheme has been developed in accordance with Transport for Londonıs objectives to ensure safe, reliable transport for Londonıs residents, workers and visitors, and will be of particular use to tourists who may not know the name of their current location. The service, which is deployed on Voxpilotıs state-of-the-art VoiceXML Gateway, has been implemented by eTX (UK) Ltd in partnership with Xeta Cabs, a member of the London Taxi Network (LTN). A cross-network infrastructure has been provided by Netsize, allowing any mobile user to access the texting service. " We are happy to host this location-based service and thereby support the initiative of the Transport for London to improve security and make taxi booking quicker and easier for both Londoners and visitors" said Dr. Jonathan Alcantara, CEO of Voxpilot. And Declan Pettit, Director of the eTX added: "We hope to involve more than 4000 participating taxis in the project by the end of 2003, making London Taxi Point the quickest, easiest way to get a taxi while on the move in London." About eTX (UK) Ltd eTX offers the technology to develop, support and host multiple transaction-oriented applications that can meet rapidly changing business requirements without the cost associated with a traditional software approach. From small-footprint embedded systems to enterprise systems with millions of transactions per day, eTXıs multi-modal platform is used in retail, telecoms and transport applications. Contact - For all sales and operational issues, contact Declan Pettit: declan.pettit@etx-touchpoint.com; 01344 871633 www.etx-touchpoint.com About Voxpilot Voxpilot is the leading pan-European VoiceXML company, offering a range of products and services for telcos, enterprises, platform companies and developers, including an Online Development Environment, a range of VoiceXML Gateway products, and outsourced services for the development and deployment of voice-enabled applications in all major European markets. The voxBuilder Developer Programme is open for development, testing and demonstration use. Online tools include a File Manager, a VXML and grammar Validator, Number Management tools, and a real-time Log Viewer. Voxpilot's flexible pricing and hosting models allow for the rapid and cost-effective deployment of innovative telephone-based applications. Voxpilotıs customers and partners include Ericsson, Vodafone, Sigma, Cap Gemini, VoiceObjects, Siemens,Nuance, Scansoft, Kirusa, Oracle and Assurland.