Interview Transcript

What was your experience working with German regulators and with Uber and ride-hailing in that region?

Our approach was to fully comply with the law. Then we decided to launch an app, a non-complying product, which was very quickly shut down by the regulators. Then we became legal again. Uber operates in a very slightly grey area and regulators are being heavily lobbied by the taxi industry to shut down whatever is left to shut down from Uber. So, to make these grey areas blacker, ideally.

Clearly, Germany is a heavily unionised country, which makes anything difficult around employees or scaling quickly. What were the grey areas and how did Uber navigate them?

There’s a law that says a driver has to return to base after every single trip and they have to be there when the next trip comes in. For the last 50 years, they have to sit in their garage and wait for their phone or computer to give them new business. So, we set up a taxi dispatcher company that would then be allowed to do that. Uber only operates as a limousine company dispatcher business in Germany. There’s someone there, pressing a button to route the trips to drivers.

So, that complies with the law because the driver has received it at the base?

Exactly, they received it at the base, so that’s okay, but you can still complain about it if you want.

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