Uber whistleblower exposes breach in driver-approval process | Technology | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... al-process

Everything about that firm seems dodgy (to put it mildly) so it doesn't surprise me.

A lot of my friends got scammed via the uber app


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Uber just doesn't seem to care.

Here in Germany nearly every driver for Uber is illegal, but they still get approved - and Uber has actually been told that they cannot legally operate in Germany, although it doesn't seem to stop them...

Here a driver needs to have a professional driving licence in order to get any insurance for transporting paying passengers. This is an expensive process and, apart from real taxi drivers, there aren't many professional drivers in Germany. Ubers' taxi service is therefore using uninsured drivers - the drivers can only obtain private insurance, which covers them for driving to their normal place of work only (on the "business" side) and explicitly forbids carrying passengers for profit - car sharing, where a passenger pays their part of the fuel costs for a "joint" journey is allowed.

That means that the passengers here are putting themselves at risk. The drivers as well. If they are caught carrying passengers, the passengers have to leave the vehicle and the driver faces up to a five figure fine and loss of their driving licence. If they are involved in an accident, then they will not only be prosecuted for driving without valid insurance, they will be left holding the can for all damages (repairs to all vehicles and property damaged in the incident, personal injury claims etc.) as well as the five figure fine.

Despite this, Uber continues to operate and blames the situation on the established taxi industry and its lobbying. Whereas, all they need to do is ensure:

1) all drivers have a professional driving licence (and I believe at the moment, probably a taxi licence, but I'm not 100% sure on that)
2) all drivers have valid professional insurance (and in Germany, if you don't have insurance, your registration plate is confiscated by the insurance company)
3) all cars are properly TÜVed (MOTed)
4) all cars have a valid and calibrated meter (not having one is illegal for a taxi or private hire)

That is the law. It doesn't have anything to do with taxi drivers. If Uber want to compete, they either have to comply with the law, or they need to get the law changed.

Operating illegally isn't shaking up the market or whatever they call it, it is just a criminal activity.

What is the purpose of that rule?
Cab drivers are not elite motor-sports professionals, they are blokes driving a an A to B delivery service whose cargo is persons, so these special licenses don't seem to protect consumers much.

London taxi drivers don't have special super pro drivers licenses, they have instead to fill their heads with arcane street knowledge that is rendered worthless by Google Maps. In Milan and Athens a taxi drivers license is a form of heirloom handed down through generations of a family. If you want to buy an Athens taxi license, you take out a mortgage for it.

The purpose of taxi regulation is largely to control who and how many people can participate in order to drive up costs, and profits, and run a closed shop. That's why the methods employed to do so vary so widely.

Uber aren't especially evil, they are taking on a variety of vested interests and in so doing fighting, in a small way, a little bit of corruption.

Trained to higher standards, so that they are safer (or should be). Also background checks etc.

It is a legal requirement in order to get commercial insurance for carrying passengers. Whether it really brings anything that beneficial is another matter. But at the moment there isn't any way around it and Uber just ignore it, putting their drivers and customers at risk.

Here the town limits the number of licences, but there don't seem to be many restriction. Where I work, another 3 cab firms have opened up in the last year, with half a dozen or more cars each. So there isn't much of a barrier to entry.