> French entrepreneurs

France doesn't have as many start-up guys and girls as you probably think and besides that they probably do not feel that uberpop is entirely without blame in how this all played out.

And if they start rioting they end up in jail.

Well, because most of europe doesn’t have a buzzword fueled start-up bubble like the US has.

Without a real, profitable business model, you won’t even get a loan from a bank here, not to talk about other investors.

From what "aikah" posted below, it sounds like shielding consists of requiring proper driver training, equivalent of commercial insurance on the vehicle, and license (which probably involves some mandatory maintenance, as commercially utilized vehicles tend to have higher mileage and higher level of abuse than personal vehicles).

Compliance with all the requirements, however, removes the economic advantage.

Probably because multi-billion dollar international companies can take care of themselves.

They all moved to SF.