NYC Has a New Electric Taxi: The Ford Mustang Mach-E

Just like Tesla beat Ford to EV domination, Elon Musk’s electric car upstart also beat the legacy automaker to the taxi fleet of NYC when a Model 3 hit the streets a year ago. But as The Verge reports, the first Ford Mustang Mach-E was recently added to the yellow-liveried ranks, and it might just be the coolest taxi in the city.

The Mustang Mach-E taxi comes courtesy of Gravity, a startup that deals in electric taxis and EV infrastructure, but has been approved by New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“The vehicles are authorized for use as taxis under an EV pilot program adopted by the TLC earlier this year,” writes Andrew J. Hawkins at The Verge. Additionally, Gravity’s Mustang Mach-E has “gone through TLC approvals and inspections,” but the company’s founder and CEO Moshe Cohen told Hawkins that “there will likely be additional features to roll out that will require future approval.”

Where Gravity’s vehicles differ from your run-of-the-mill taxis, even the other electrified ones, is in the driver monitoring and passenger experience. As the startup’s website details, the company installs its own artificial intelligence tech that supposedly “monitors and corrects driver behavior” such as phone usage, fatigue and even incorrectly worn face masks. In the backseat, passengers will sit under a panoramic roof and have access to a 22-inch display for selfies, music, video and climate control, according to a press release.

As our Automotive Editor Benjamin Hunting wrote in his review of the Mustang Mach-E, the crossover is an impressive EV that is hampered by the charging infrastructure around it. Gravity hopes to solve that problem through its own charging stations, the first of which is smack in the middle of Manhattan in a parking garage in Midtown.

While your chances of hailing this cab at the moment are on par with the Cash Cab, Gravity plans on bulking up their fleet to 50 taxis, both Mustang Mach-Es and Tesla Model Ys.