Who invented the taximeter?

The taximeter was invented by Wilhelm Bruhn. More precisely, the inventor was Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn, a German engineer associated with the modern fare meter.

Bruhn developed the modern taximeter in Berlin in 1891. The device measured a taxi’s distance and waiting time so fares could be calculated systematically, replacing informal bargaining or handwritten fare estimates with a mechanical record.

Early taximeters were mechanical instruments mounted outside the cab, often above the driver’s side front wheel. Later designs moved inside the passenger compartment, and electronic meters became common during the 1980s.

A taximeter should not be confused with the taxi itself. Gottlieb Daimler built the Daimler Victoria, often described as the first gasoline-powered, meter-equipped taxicab, in 1897—several years after Bruhn’s invention. Karl Benz and Henry Ford were major automobile pioneers, but neither invented the modern taximeter.