Cabriolet (carriage)

The design was developed in France in the eighteenth century and quickly replaced the heavier hackney carriage as the vehicle for hire of choice in Paris and London.

[2] The word cabriolet is derived from the French version of the Italian capriolo meaning a young goat, due to the swaying motion of the vehicle at speed suggestive of the skipping and capering of a kid.

[4] Imported from France to England in the 1790s, the cabriolet was originally a two-seater driven by its owner, with a platform on the rear for a groom to stand on.

In 1805, the first 9 cabriolets were granted license to ply for hire but only outside of the main center of London and limited to two persons only—limiting the arrangement to a single passenger, with the driver uncomfortably sitting beside his fare.

[2][5]: 9 [1]: 90 Accidents were common because the drivers showed off their new-found speed and would occasionally collide with streetposts or other vehicles causing the passengers to be pitched forward into the road.