Uyi Orobor, 22, and an accomplice asked the driver for a ride after seeing him parked in Arbury Court, Cambridge, at about 8.15pm on 14 January last year. They got in despite there already being a passenger inside.
The driver protested and got out but Orobor began kicking and punching the driver who fell to the ground.
As the victim was getting up to run away, Orobor pulled him back by his jumper and stabbed him once with a knife in the shoulder. He managed to flee and called the police from a nearby fish and chip shop.
Orobor and the accomplice then ran off towards Arbury Road.
The victim attended hospital for treatment for his injury, which was not life threatening, while the passenger was uninjured and had fled before police arrival.
Orobor was arrested on February 11 last year following an unrelated incident, while efforts are ongoing to trace his accomplice.
On Thursday, 16 March, at Peterborough Crown Court, Orobor, of Rochdale Road, Oldham, Greater Manchester, was jailed for one year and eight months, having pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
DC Alex Galan-Tarachiu said: “This was a shocking attack on a taxi driver who was just going about his daily business.
“Orobor showed no respect for him and used a grossly disproportionate level of violence.”
