New York City taxicabs are testing an app called Arro that will allow people to hail taxis from their smartphone. Arro will provide people with the taxi driver's name and the number of the cab so it can be identified when it arrives. Similarly, the taxi driver will be given the name of the passenger through the app and the pickup location. The app stores credit card information and passengers can pay for the ride from their phone automatically when it is complete. Arro is being beta tested in about 7,000 cabs and will eventually expand to 13,000 of New York's 20,000 yellow and green taxis. The app is meant to help the taxi industry compete with Uber, which also allows people to hail rides from their smartphone. Arro partnered with Creative Mobile Technologies, which controls the electronic payment service and video screens in 65% of New York's taxis. Arro said it has an advantage over Uber in that it is natively hooked into most taxis' credit card payment terminals. Moreover, Arro will not charge surge pricing; passengers will only pay the metered fare. The full launch is expected to occur in the next few weeks. Arro's developers said they hope to expand the app to all NYC taxis and eventually to other cities.


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