By now many of you guys have heard of Uber and the variety of services that have since spawned as a direct result of its success, but just in case you don’t, Uber is a car service in which you can request for a ride via the app. Because anyone can be an Uber driver as long as you have a car and you meet the requirements, safe to say that the taxi industry is very upset.
In fact for a while it has been contested that the company’s app is or should be considered as a taximeter, and that because of that they do not have the proper license to operate. However over in London, it seems that the company has won a huge victory as the courts have ruled in their favor, declaring that the Uber app does not count as a taximeter.
Basically a taximeter is the gadget found in taxis in which the distance of the ride is calculated along with the price of it. However because of the legal definition of a taximeter does not include smartphones which relies on data from a server outside the vehicle to calculate cost and distance, it technically does not count as a taximeter.
While this ruling only applies to the UK, it is still a pretty significant victory and one that could be applied as a precedent in other countries, or at least used as an example. However Uber still has plenty of challenges to face but one step at a time.