This article is taken from an exclusive WIRED series, '41 Lessons from Uber's Success', featuring Tim Harford, Rachel Botsman, Nir Eyal, Clayton M Christensen, Josh Elman, Carlo Ratti and Richard Branson. You can find the other articles here.
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A common effect of disruptive businesses is that incumbents react by going to regulators, and trying to have the newcomer shut down. Uber seems to be saying, "Let them come after us -- we're going to fight."
For that reason, Uber needs to be much clearer about which type of regulation it can risk breaking, and which type of regulation it wants to be watertight on. When it comes to passenger safety, Uber seems to be skating on thin ice.
Most regulators want passenger safety to be ex-ante -- controlled in advance. They don't want to rely on people getting damages after the event. On vehicle safety, liability insurance is an ex-post mechanism -- some regulators may require ex-ante vehicle inspection.
Uber must be above board on safety, so that it can push its argument for competition from the moral high ground.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
