Lost in France: After violent protests and arrests in France, UberPOP is suspended for the next months.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/03/uber-suspends-french-ride-sharing-service-uberpop
Massive protests in Sao Paulo: UberPOP is not welcome in Brazil either.
taxi.eu now in Cologne: The taxi circuit app was integrated into the hailing system of Taxi Ruf Köln.
http://koeln-nachrichten.de/wirtschaft/branchen/hallo-taxi-ab-sofort-in-1200-funkmietwagen/
Number of the day
200.000
Rides ordered for the chauffeur service ‘Mydriver’ since the beginning of 2013 in Germany and Europe. That comes to 6,666 rides per month and 222 rides per day. This ‘success’ proves that those who acquire passengers legally cannot compete with the taxi trade.
Automobile news
Vote without market leader: After extensive test drives, around 30 taxi companies have voted for the taxi of the year. Skoda, Seat, Toyota, Kia, Nissan and Lexus were among the winners. Mercedes and Volkswagen did not participate in the vote.
http://auto-presse.de/autonews.php?newsid=290360
News from Germany
myTaxi appeals: The dispute over the legality of the discount promotion heads for the next round.
Legal? Who cares! MyTaxi launched a 50% discount promotion for July despite the fact that it is on the brink of legality. Their actions are very reminiscent of Uber.
Fear of serial robbers: Several colleagues in Hanover have been the victims of a taxi robber over past several days.
http://www.leinehertz.net/nc/nachrichtendetails/article/rauba14berfall-auf-taxifahrer-17009.html
autonomous drive
Autonomous at the Olympics: Athletes at the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan are to be transported in self-driving cars.
Our last words
Sacrificing profit: The ad department of the Taxi Times received a request last week from Intelligent Apps. A Mytaxi ad was scheduled to appear in the next print edition. Taxi Times publishing turned down the Hamburg company because the legality of the discount promotion has not yet been determined. Our answer: “Thank you for your understanding. As a trade magazine for the entire taxi industry, we prefer to offer an advertising platform only to those whose competitive activities are conducted within the limits of the law.”
About this update: Our bilingual ‘update’ summarises the international news of the last days and hours. As some of the links are in foreign languages, we recommend using a website translator.
Photo: Dieter Braun / pixelio.de
