California Approves Flywheel, the App That Makes Taxis Work Like Uber

Flywheel, an app for booking regular taxis, got the green light from California regulators Tuesday to offer its TaxiOS technology to cab owners to replace the current, outdated jumble of meters, dispatch, advertising, navigation systems and credit card readers. The new technology, which runs on a single, cloud-enabled smartphone, is being pitched as a way to help the traditional taxi industry regain market share lost to ride-hailing companies. Or, as Flywheel put it, “California has finally set a level playing field for taxis in their war against Uber.”

The decision by the Golden State’s Division of Measurement Standards, which regulates commercial measuring devices like taxi meters, to allow taxi owners to use Flywheel’s app comes after a successful pilot program in San Francisco. Now all California taxis have the option to use Flywheel, where the company has approval to operate throughout the state for one year pending full type certification.

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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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