Why American taxis are yellow (while Europe’s are black and beige)

If you’ve ever wondered why taxis are yellow, you’re not alone. Stand on a curb in almost any major American city, and your brain automatically scans traffic for a bright yellow sedan.

As a recent piece in Motor1 points out, cars don’t roll off the assembly line looking like giant highlighters by accident. The American yellow cab is actually the product of early 20th-century optics research and a New York police crackdown. But the moment you look outside the US, the logic dictating a taxi’s color completely changes.

A Chicago optics study

The American yellow cab wasn’t born in New York. It started in Chicago with a guy named John Hertz—yes, the rental car guy.

Back in 1915, Hertz launched the Yellow Cab Company. City streets at the time were a chaotic, unregulated mess, and there was no standard look for a taxi. Hertz needed his fleet to cut through the visual noise so passengers could spot them from a block away. He reportedly funded a study at the University of Chicago to figure out exactly which color the human eye registers fastest from a distance. The researchers came back with a decisive answer: a specific shade of bright yellow.

Hertz painted his entire fleet, and the branding worked so well that rival operators across the country immediately began stealing the look.

The New York police crackdown

While Chicago figured out the visibility trick, New York City made it the law.

In the 1920s and 30s, New York’s streets were actually packed with green, brown, red, and black taxis. It wasn’t until 1967 that the city government stepped in with a strict color mandate. As documented by Classic New York History, the city was battling a massive influx of unregulated “gypsy cabs” illegally picking up street hails and scamming passengers.

To make it incredibly easy for cops and tourists to spot a legally licensed, regulated cab, the city passed a law forcing all official medallion taxis to be painted Dupont M6284 Yellow. The color essentially functioned as a giant, vehicle-sized badge.

The European way: Rationing and hiding dirt

Today, you don’t really need a highly visible vehicle when your phone tracks your ride via GPS. This realization has sparked a lot of curiosity online, with people suddenly questioning why the yellow standard still exists.

Across Reddit, users have been dissecting the history of the color. In a thread on r/stupidquestions, users quickly pointed out that yellow’s sheer optical dominance makes it impossible to ignore. A parallel discussion on r/NoStupidQuestions expanded on how Hertz’s branding essentially hacked the public consciousness. Meanwhile, locals on r/AskNYC argue that changing the color now would be like repainting the Empire State Building.

But the Reddit discourse also effectively highlights how uniquely American this is. While the US optimized for maximum street visibility, European taxi fleets prioritized economic and industrial efficiency.

London’s iconic black cabs aren’t black for prestige—they are black because of post-war rationing. When the Austin Motor Company introduced the legendary FX3 taxi in 1948, black paint was the cheapest, most economically viable option for mass production.

Similarly, West Germany mandated in 1971 that all taxis be painted “Light Ivory.” Rather than blasting the retinas of pedestrians, the German government opted for a beige shade specifically because it is incredibly forgiving at hiding dust and minor scratches. It allowed drivers to maintain a clean, professional appearance without endless trips to the car wash.

Ultimately, yellow works because we’ve been conditioned to know exactly what it means. It started as an optical trick, became a law enforcement tool, and survived into the digital age as a pure cultural reflex.

This article is made and published by Asger Risom, who may have used AI in the preparation