The Government Is a Hitman: Uber, Tesla and Airbnb Are in Its Crosshairs
time.com
time.com
Tesla is in a different category from Uber and Airbnb.
Tesla makes a real product, distributes it, and sells it. They are bumping into old laws that actually make no sense in the modern era. HOWEVER, unlike Uber and Airbnb, they are attempting to comply while they get the laws changed.
Uber and Airbnb are bumping into old laws that make real sense for consumers even now. In the case of taxi laws, they demand that drivers have things like a commercial drivers license (much harder to get than a standard license), liability insurance, and some requirement for fair practices.
Uber explicitly ignored all of these and now they are getting bashed for it. They didn't have to ignore the taxi laws. They could have gotten certified as a taxi service and overlaid that with effective use of technology. But that wouldn't be a billion dollar social internet company that they could cash out--it would be a solidly profitable 50 million dollar company that they would have to run--and that's not what they wanted. So, now they're getting bashed--and they deserve it.
In the case of Airbnb, lodging rules also have a purpose. They guarantee things like liability insurance, standards of cleanliness (bedbugs are a real problem again), and non-discrimination. Airbnb could have complied with these laws, but, again, chose to ignore them in order to enhance their profitability. And now they are getting bashed for it. And they deserve it.
The difference is that Tesla attempted to do things itself and comply. Airbnb and Uber attempt to push the liability onto someone else and flout the law.
I suspect that Airbnb and Uber are actually going to provoke a law that says that companies also have some liability for their subcontractors. And that's going to make a mess ... all because a couple of greedy business types wanted to make a few extra bucks.
Not really relevant, you're essentially saying normal carpooling should require a commercial licence on the driver's part.
I agree on your sentiments, there are regulations for a reason. However, these apps are simply put P2P with a third party responsible for platform legitimacy; not the legitimacy of the clients (other than by extension.)
I haven't personally used Uber, mostly because I doubt it's got much traction in Norway anyway, but if the ranking system is as effective as, say, ThePirateBay's VIP/Trusted system then what we're having is fear-mongering and not an actual problem.
As for liability, whatever happened to accepting "at your own risk"? I suppose it's a problem of perspective for me, being guaranteed not to pay more than an equivalent of $700 a year no matter how badly my body is mangled.
Carpooling is a touch different in that the drivers know one another. It's also not really run as a business (usually).
> As for liability, whatever happened to accepting "at your own risk"?
It's actually less the liability of client than damage to other cars/property. Because the drivers are putting in way more miles than their personal policies would indicate, their risk category is very different from the insurance that they are buying.
The biggest issue is that, unlike Tesla, Airbnb and Uber have significant negative externalities that they are foisting off onto other people by ignoring the laws that are in place.
I would love to have a cab service that I could call up and keep track of the cab that's supposed to come get me by gps. I would love to have a cab service that allows me to move from point A to point B in the suburbs. I would love to have a cab service that doesn't bitch about taking me from the airport to my house (because they're not going to have a reverse fare).
Uber or Lyft could have been this and would have had some very staunch defenders. Creating a useful cab service in the suburbs would have made people weep for joy.
But they explicitly chose not to be.
And, in fact, Uber and Lyft are leaving behind damage that is going to be difficult to undo. At least one law being passed targets using GPS services to coordinate transit of people. THAT law is genuinely anti-competitive because it's going to block a legitimate competitor--but it's going to get through because Uber and Lyft are such easy targets by acting like jerks and flouting the laws.