@basicallydan - related to your point about The Knowledge. Doesn't satnav make that test somewhat anachronistic now?
With a minicab driver simply following instructions from a satnav, you might as well just have a self-driving car, which is no bad thing.
With a black cab driver using their knowledge and experience and eschewing the instructions from a system which wasn't designed specifically for London, you may have a more reliably fast journey.
Plus, they could even give tourists some interesting facts about the places they're driving through!