Uber News Round-Up: Acquires Otto, Takes Legal Action in London

Everyone’s favorite ride-hailing company is having quite the busy day.

On Thursday, Uber Technologies Inc. said it would be taking legal action against Transport for London (TFL), the city’s transport regulator, in order to block upcoming regulatory changes that would hinder the recruitment of new drivers.

“This legal action is very much a last resort,” said Tom Elvidge, Uber’s general manager for London, in a statement. “After a lengthy consultation process with [TFL], the goalposts have moved at the last minute and new rules are now being introduced that will be bad for both drivers and tech companies like Uber.”

Back in January, TFL decided against enforcing a five-minute wait time for rides on customers of Uber and other ride-hailing services. Instead, it would bring in new regulatory measure.

One of the new requirement for drivers includes passing a written English language test to operate a private, for-hire vehicle, as well as English writing skills. Private hire firms must also run a London call center, and drivers are required to have insurance for their vehicles, even when they are not bring used as private hire cars.

Uber is undoubtedly upset at these new rules, arguing that the English language tests go way beyond what is necessary to drive a private hire vehicle, and even claiming that the exam is more difficult than the standard required to attain British citizenship.

In response, TFL said it would defend its new regulations in court. “These have been introduced to enhance public safety when using private hire services and we are determined to create a vibrant taxi and private hire market with space for all providers to flourish.”

Uber Acquires Self-Driving Car Start-Up Otto

In a lighter announcement, Uber has acquired self-driving car start-up Otto, which specializes in self-driving trucks. Otto is a 90-person company, and its co-founder, Anthony Levandowski, will now lead Uber into the self-driving car market.

According to Bloomberg, the acquisition is still in its closing stage, but the two companies have agreed to a high price tag. If all key goals are met, the acquisition could potentially be worth 1% of Uber’s current valuation, which is a whopping $680 million.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a statement that “Otto plus Uber is a dream team…Together, we now have one of the strongest autonomous engineering groups in the world; self-driving trucks and cars that are already on the road thanks to Otto and Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh; the practical experience that comes from running ridesharing and delivery services in hundreds of cities; with the data and intelligence that comes from doing 1.2 billion miles on the road every month.”

Impressively, Otto engineers have worked at Tesla Motors TSLA, Apple AAPL, and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL Google division, and with this knowledge and expertise, Uber is bound to be a top player in the self-driving car industry.

If interested in more information on the booming self-driving car industry, and Uber’s role in it, check out these Zacks articles: “Your Ultimate Guide to the Self-Driving Car Market” and “Forget Lawsuits, Uber Drivers’ Days are Numbered.”

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