Uber Technologies Inc yesterday expressed alarm at looming regulatory tightening that could threaten its revamped ride-hailing business model in partnership with local car rental operators and taxi fleets.
The company has become aware of rumors that government regulations on its business model are to be tightened, adding that these changes could impact livelihoods, Singapore-based Uber Asia-Pacific director of government relations and strategic communications Emily Potvin said in a teleconference.
While Uber can play a crucial role in helping the nation digitize the transportation industry and wider economy, there needs to be a conversation with all stakeholders, including government agencies, regulators, consumers and industry representatives, Potvin said.
“We need to have a seat at the table,” Potvin said, adding that a public consultation period would go a long way in moving things forward.
Uber’s technology is capable of harnessing the rapidly increasing demand for rides and sustaining a healthy market that is large enough for the entire transportation industry, Potvin said.
“The company is just as concerned about the diminished income of taxi drivers,” she said, adding that the transportation sector should not be a zero-sum game.
Drivers using the company’s UberTaxi service have seen their income rise as the result of the company’s technology, Potvin said.
Uber is fully committed to Taiwan and being a good corporate citizen, following its return to the nation in April last year, Potvin added.
“We started a new chapter last year and aim to be fully compliant with Taiwan’s regulations,” she said.
However, taxi drivers remain dissatisfied about the company’s concession to forgo enlisting private cars on its platform and subject itself to further regulation by working with licensed taxi drivers and car rental operators.
There are rumors that the government might impose on Uber the same regulations as coach bus operators, which require that each ride exceed an hour and that each vehicle must return to the rental company’s lot before picking up another fare, Potvin said.
That would pose as a major obstacle for Uber’s operations, as well as unnecessarily increase road usage and emissions, Potvin added.
The company is also exploring ways to launch UberFlash, a service that allows consumers to hail the nearest vehicle whether they are a ride-sharing participant or a conventional taxi, Potvin said.
“First we need to get the conversation started,” she said.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
STABLE DEMAND: Delta supplies US clients in the aerospace, defense and machinery segments, and expects second-half sales to be similar to the first half Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) expects its US automation business to remain steady in the second half, with no signs of weakening client demand. With demand from US clients remaining solid, its performance in the second half is expected to be similar to that of the first half, Andy Liu (劉佳容), general manager of the company’s industrial automation business group, said on the sidelines of the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show in Taipei on Wednesday. The company earlier reported that revenue from its automation business grew 7 percent year-on-year to NT$27.22 billion (US$889.98 million) in the first half, accounting for 11 percent
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
RSS