Taxis to Have Video, Audio Monitoring Tech Installed in Guangzhou

By Matthew Bossons, July 10, 2017

Leaving Party Pier at sometime around 2am, you hop into the first available taxi and mutter your apartment’s address in an inebriated tone. Then you look at your phone screen, browsing WeChat Moments or – if your phone’s VPN still works – Instagram. Distracted, you don’t glance around the cab or outside the window until the driver informs you that you’ve arrived at your stated destination. But, oh no! It turns out the driver chose not to run the meter and now wants you to fork over RMB80 for a RMB22 drive.

Naturally, an argument ensues and you either buckle and pay the man or make a daring run for it while he screams at you from the driver’s side window. If this hasn’t happened to you during your time in Guangzhou, it means you either only just arrived or have made the wise decision to utilize the city’s vast public transit system.

Put frankly, it sucks when a crooked cabbie tries to price gouge or, worse yet, hand off fake bills, and that’s why we were happy to discover that cameras and audio monitoring equipment – with real time access to traffic administrative authorities – will be installed in all Guangzhou taxis starting next month.

Cabs will also be required to be equipped with the driver’s qualification information, electronic payment options, GPS, navigation, voice broadcast and communication tech, volume control, recording and face recognition, among other features.

Videos filmed while transporting passengers will be required to be saved for at least seven days.

According to authorities in Guangzhou, the reason for the addition of cameras and audio monitoring equipment is to force cabbies to operate within the law. The system is also being touted as a way for passengers to retrieve forgotten items.

Although the system is set to be in full effect by August 1, we can confirm that some taxis in the city are already set up with soon-to-be-required audio and video equipment. One driver we spoke with told us that the equipment in his car, a red cab, was installed last week and that it is fully operational.

To file a complaint against a driver for unscrupulous behavior, the public will be able to call 12345 or 12328 and report incidents, which will be added to a driver’s ‘credibility file.’ You can also file a report via WeChat, for which we have a handy guide.

[Images JOuTrip, Tencent News]