Uber vs. the Law (My Money's on Uber)

Posted: September 9, 2014 at 7:57 pm

I love Uber, the ridesharing app that connects people who need rides with drivers.Instead of my normal $35 taxi ride to LAX, an UberX car takes me for about $11.The service is active in 108 US cities and 45 countries worldwide.Five years ago, it didnt exist. Today, its valued at over $18 billion.It truly is an Exponential Organization.

Uber is one of a new generation of dematerializing, demonetizing and democratizing technologies thats disrupting the status quo.Simply put, Uber is a product adored by passengers and Uber drivers alike.It uses technology to dramatically improve a broken system. It solves a pain point.As a result,hordes have leftthe traditional taxis and rental car options.Understandably, these incumbents arent happy, and where do they turn?

Regulation.

Ubers Long, Legal Battle

I recently spent a week with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick in Sicily at Google Google Camp.Id heard mention of some of the legislative challenges that Uber was facing globally, but I wasnt really aware of the scope or scale of what was happening.

Check out this global resistance:

And yet:

Regulation, the Protection of Last Resort

Laws typically favor the incumbent solutions that manifested them in the first place.But when an industry turns to protectionist regulations to keep a more cost-effective solution out of the market, you know its in a death spiral.Take the horse versus the automobiles, for example. Many hated cars in the early 1900s because, well, they scared horses.In fact, amazingly, at the turn of the century, a law in Pennsylvania stated:

Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass. If the horses appear skittish, the motorist must take his car apart, piece by piece, and hide it under the nearest bushes.

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Uber vs. the Law (My Money's on Uber)

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