Uber Faces Potential London Ban (Audio)

said it will challenge the revocation in court. It's also said, though, that it is willing to make concessions to get its license renewed. Here to talk with us about London's action against Uber is Benjamin Edelman, a professor at Harvard Business School. UH. Benjamin, Uber's had a lot of battles with regulators around the world on various things. They've had all sorts of problems. Their CEO as host did this year. UM, why did London now conclude that this is a UH that they

shouldn't have a four higher taxi license. Well, it's a combination of concerns, the very scandals that you reference. UH. Certainly London was concerned about gray Ball, the Uber function that was designed to and did block regulators from seeing what Uber was up to. Can't really have a second set of books to show the regulators versus what the real drivers see that didn't reflect well on them. There

are concerns about safety, about reporting to the police. The overall concern is that Uber doesn't play by the rules and that maybe doesn't work so well in London. You can just barely get away with it in most U. S cities, but outside the United States sometimes the rules are taken a little more seriously. So Benjamin Uber has fought these battles not only in the United States but outside the United States. And it says it's going to

appeal the regulator decision. It threatened to take the city to court, and it started a Twitter campaign and an online petition that already has more than seven fifty thousand signatures. What is the judicial process that it will have to go through? Well, formal judicial process looks a lot like what you'd expectet will be uh formally argued in court with lawyers for both sides. But at the same time, Uber follows its standard playbook and trying to turn this

into a political contest all but a popularity campaign. Can we get more Twitter fans than you and if that's the test, if that actually made the difference, Uber surly would win. The amazing thing is that, of course the regulators feel that pressure. Mayor of London is going to feel pressure from his constituents and ultimately it's hard for him to do the opposite of what the voters want. So are there things Uber might be able to do besides pressuring the regulators to get them to change their

minds here absent going to court. Certainly Uber has made changes in specific jurisdictions where so required by capable regulators. You look at what Uber had to do in Singapore. In Singapore, the government insisted from the outset that every vehicle used to provide commercial service needed to have commercial registration. The driver needed to have commercial driver's license, and so Uber did it the opposite of what they did in the United States, of course, where the drivers are all

using regular driver's licenses in regular non commercial cars. In Singapore, they had to do what the government wanted, and they did so. Benjamin, what would be the biggest issue as this is appealed? Would there be one that stands out? If I were Uber, I'd probably be challenging the order as arbitrary as insufficiently linked to specific problems. I'd say that gray ball was a technique used in other jurisdictions but never used in London. So what's the big deal.

On the flip side, London will say, look, we're assessing your character as a company. You're a company with unfit character. This series of scandals reveals something about your corporate personality and that's not the kind of company we want operating on our streets. Taxpayers pay for the streets, and taxpayers don't want you. They're actually both pretty good arguments, and it's almost like two ships crossing in the night. Well, Benjamin, you know London is a pretty big market, but Uber

is a very big company around the world. How big a hit is this to Uber not to be able to operate in London assuming this gets upheld right, Well, London is one thing, but you've got to think about the other countries that might look to London's example. They see Uber all but banned from so many places in Germany, and how about London, And you think about the situation in Tokyo, which has been an awfully tough market for Uber, and China of course off the table after the company

all but gave up there. Well, it's a series of disappointments and defeats for Uber that ultimately add up to something more than some of the parts. And Bannon just about thirty seconds. Does it seem to you as if Uber is handling this a little bit differently from other confrontations and cities where you have that open letter saying you have my commitment that will work with London to make things right, to keep the city safe. Right, the Uber of a year ago wouldn't say on the first

day that they're prepared to come impromise. The Uber of a year ago would fight, fight, fight to the death. And that's not the strategy they're taking now. Well, so they have I mean they have one. In other places they seemed to indicate they were going to go to court right away. Do you think it's going to end up being more of a negotiation that gets them back in here or are they really going to have to

fight in court? We've got about thirty seconds right. The ultimate question is whether the regulators, who hold all the all the power here, whether they'll accept what Uber comes to offer. Will the regulators feel compelled when when voters citizens signed petitions, doesn't matter Can you petition your way out of a parking ticket? If I parked in front of a fire hydrant? Can I get all my friends to sign up and say I shouldn't have to pay?

I don't think that would work very well for me, and the fire hydrant can uber somehow by having more friends get itself out of the kind of trouble that they're in. Maybe it's worked in other places that worked right here in Boston, so maybe it'll work in London. To our thanks to Benjamin Element of Harvard Business School,