Taxi drivers have a dangerous occupation. Hundreds of taxi drivers become the unwilling victims of robberies and violent crime each year. Just in May 2002, according to Germany'staxi and rental car union (BZP), three taxi drivers were killed in Germany. This organisation reported that in the years 2001 and 2002, a total of 847 taxi drivers were attacked. Ten attacks resulted in the loss of life. Based on such statistics, unions have been pushing for increased security in taxis for quite some time.

ENAiKOON has now developed a special security system which uses the latest in satellite (GPS) and mobile phone network (GSM) technology; all at an affordable price. This idea is not new, but previous test systems would have cost a few thousand euros for each vehicle per year. Even when it comes to protecting the lives of their employees, the taxi industry cannot afford such costs.
Peter Kristan, the chair of Germany's taxi union (TVD), estimates that "since the arrival of the euro, business has been down 15 to 30 percent....The German taxi industry is worse than it's ever been."

Already during the time of the Deutschmark, taxi companies had financial troubles. As a result, only a handful of taxis have been outfitted with GPS-supported security systems.

Affordable Security

ENAiKOON, working closely with security call centres, is the first company to offer this technology at a bargain price: The service can be used for a small monthly fee. The module itself, the new ENAiKOON locate, is provided free of charge.

In case of an emergency, the taxi driver can send out a silent alarm, sent out countrywide via the mobile phone network. With help from GPS, the exact location of the taxi is provided to a security call centre and to the police. This takes out the unnecessary step of going through the taxi central.

Potential attackers are forewarned by stickers placed on the taxi. Previous test systems have proven that this warning prevents many attacks from taking place in the first place.

Optimised Taxi Call Centres

The aforementioned technology not only protects taxi drivers, but can be extended to to match the services currently being provided by taxi call centres. The system can be phoned and automatically provides information as to the location of the nearest taxi. In rare cases when the caller is not able to get properly entered by the advanced database system, a voice-automated system asks for and saves the customer's information. Only in extreme cases is the customer forwarded to a call centre. The taxi driver also has the possibility of speaking directly
with the customer in case there are certain questions (credit card payment, help for disabled persons, extra luggage, etc.) that need to be asked.
The advantages are clear: The passenger is quickly connected to a driver and does not have to deal with busy phone lines or unfriendly call centre agents. The passenger and driver are also able to clear up such details as, if the customer can wait at the door and how long he or she must wait.

Highly Cost-Effective

Medium sized and small taxi companies receive the benefits of a big taxi central at a very low cost. The ENAiKOON locate system has the possibility of providing similar services to a labour intensive taxi central, allowing for highly coordinated planning, and increased efficiency. This, in effect, levels the playing field, making it possible for small companies to compete with bigger, previously more efficient companies. Bigger companies can use the information saved by the ENAiKOON locate modules to produce very accurate statistics for workload, kilometres driven, profitable locations, and so on.
The provided information is naturally of use for accounting and monitoring purposes. The operating costs of a taxi company are greatly reduced by the use of the ENAiKOON locate module.
Not to be forgotten: In addition to the possibility of increased profits, the ENAiKOON locate module also provides a security system for the taxi driver. The combination of these two benefits make the small investment necessary all the more affordable. In fact, the investment should pay for itself in no time.