This week, San Francisco cabs are being fitted with a touch screen system offering passengers access to a whole array of information.

The Interactive Taxi’s back seat information kiosk provides free access to news, weather, sports, entertainment options (from restaurant to movie showings) and city resources such as library and museum listings.

The information is updated continually through the Verizon cellular network and a technology developed by PeerDirect ensures that passengers can continue to use the kiosk, even if the cab passes through a cellular “dead zone.”

Interactive Taxi Co. first rolled out the kiosks in New York City during a one-year experiment that ended in August 2003. The company has also rolled out hundreds of cybercabs in Boston and Chicago and hopes to be soon able to provide taxi passengers with the ability to order movie tickets or book restaurant reservations with the touch screen service.

Demo and videos from the news.

Via Futurewire The SF Examiner.
Related: wholistic taxis in Australia.