Ford premiered a new design for New York City's fleet of yellow cabs at this week's New York Auto Show. The press release for the Ford Transit Connect Taxi concept says the new cab is "a fresh take on taxis." The updated on/off duty sign sounds pretty cool: it's described as a "space-age looking flat-panel unit, mounted horizontally above the Taxi concept's roof, [that's] lit on all four sides — green if the cab is available, orange if it's occupied." The taxi also features a boxy shape that allows for lots of passenger and cargo room, and work stations for drivers with in-dash computers that provide GPS navigation and full high speed internet access. One thing the concept cab doesn't have is a hybrid engine. Though Ford outfitted San Francisco and New York with fleets of Hybrid Ford Escape taxis back in 2005, this new model has a standard engine that's already left editors at our auto-crazy sister blog, Jalopnik, wondering if it will still make a good cab in spite of the higher gas mileage.

http://gridskipper.com/369808/is-this-the-next-nyc-taxi