LONDON — With their distinctive design and reassuring engine rumble, London’s black cabs stand out — like fish and chips and Big Ben — among Britain’s most cherished icons.
London’s black-cab drivers believe they are the best in the world. And given their years of grueling study to earn the right to get behind the wheel in the British capital, it may well be true.
Black-cab drivers, many of whom earn a comfortable living, have all passed “the Knowledge,” the legendary test of geographical knowledge that dates back to the 19th century.
But as GPS technology and the online ride-hailing app Uber threaten taxi businesses in cities across the globe, perhaps nowhere is the confrontation as resonant as in London, where a battle is brewing between the ultimate in British tradition and a Silicon Valley giant that symbolizes the new age of innovation.