Original: Although battery-powered vehicles enjoyed a brief success in Paris , London , and New York in the 1890s , the 1891 invention by German Wilhelm Bruhn of the taximeter ( the familiar mechanical and now often electronic device that calculates the fare in most taxicabs ) ushered in the modern taxi .
Simplified: The 1891 invention by German Wilhelm Bruhn of the taximeter ( the familiar mechanical and now often electronic device that calculates the fare in most taxicabs ) ushered in the modern taxi .