"New York City is the heart of the taxi industry in the U.S., but its drivers and passengers have been left in the dark with outdated technology for quite some time," the company said in a statement. "Now that TaxiOS has been approved for citywide operation, we're giving NYC Yellow Cabs the tools needed to compete with rideshare giants. By providing drivers with a smartphone, we're getting rid of the outdated, and frankly, annoying technology currently in cabs."

Flywheel is rolling out TaxiOS to a thousand cabs in the Big Apple by the end of the year, making NYC its seventh location after San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Sacramento and Portland. Besides modernizing the taxi meter, the startup also plans to launch a backseat entertainment system for cabs that will allow passengers to enjoy "personalized content, social channels and more" later this year.