Analysis of mobility patterns for urban taxi cabs

This paper analyzes urban taxi mobility traces obtained from San Francisco Yellow cabs. The paper presents a rigorous analysis of taxi mobility pattern with the instantaneous velocity profile, spatio-temporal distribution, connectivity of vehicle communications, clustering, hotspots and other characteristics like trip duration and empty cruise interval. The empirical data analyses presented here can be a helpful resource for wireless researchers, government organizations, taxi companies and even for the drivers or passengers. While wireless researchers can estimate the capabilities and constraints of vehicular communication from connectivity and mobility patterns, government can plan and work on issues related to implementing proper DSRC infrastructure. Finally, taxi companies and drivers can benefit from maximizing the trip revenue and minimize empty cruise time though balanced load distribution and awareness of the hotspots.