Uber Allowed To Continue In Moscow With Commercial Taxi Licenses

Uber will provide travel data and use proper licensed drivers to provide its cab service to the people living in Moscow

Uber has agreed to the demands of the transport authorities of Moscow, which was interested in keeping the ride hailing company stick to driving partners with proper taxi licenses.

Last month, the Russian capital transport department was thinking to impose a ban on the United States quasi-cab service if it didn’t stop contracting amateur drivers and provide information on its routes to the regulatory bodies.

Currently, a statement posted on the Government of Moscow website revealed that the transporter has agreed on both matters. Maxim Liksutov, who is heading the transport department, said that the steps might make Uber technologies much safer for the people living in Moscow.

Meanwhile, the local chief of the California based company; Dmitry Izmailov said that the company was now a part of the capital’s urban transportation infrastructure. The data circulated with the transport department might not be of type that can play a role in tracking individual trips; rather, its aggregation will be done to let the authorities decide what role the company plays in the city’s traffic. The department has previously signed similar contracts with the ride hailing company’s competitors like Yandex.Taxi

According to Moscow times, Uber is operating in seven cities of Russia and aims to expand its service to 10 new cities by the end of this year.

According to Venture Beat, as far as disseminating travel data with authorities  is concerned, Uber has done that in a number of other cities, including Boston, where it jointly took the big-data measure with the authorities of the city last year. Provided that the organization stores a lot of location-focused details, this data can be harnessed by cities for the better good to solve traffic congestion problem, cut down the levels of pollution, extend public transportation and manage growth in urban areas.

In other news, Wall Street Journal has reported that Ola of  ANI Technologies private limited and Uber have stopped providing their motorbike- booking facilities in the south Indian city Bangalore.

An official of Karnataka, Remogowada state: Both the taxi companies had not sought regulatory permission from the authorities for driving bikes as cabs before launching their services.

On Monday March 14, Ola and the American cab service provider have told state authorities they would file applications for permission, Ramegowda added.Any automobile providing a cab service should bear a number plate colored yellow and a “driver’s badge” issued by the transport department of the state must be held by the driver.

Uber Pays $20,000, Impose Stricter Controls On Data Handling

As part of its settlement with Attorney General of New York, Uber would impose stricter controls on data handling.

Uber has agreed to make a payment of $20,000 to America authorities and impose stricter controls on the “God View” technology to handle user data to make a settlement of an inquiry conducted by attorney general of New York into its privacy practices.

The investigation was initiated after an official suggested that the organization was capable of tapping into information to keep a track of specific riders’ whereabouts. Apart from this, it later revealed last year violation of its system that succeeded in exposing the details of 50,000 drivers of the company.

Uber’s spokesman said the company had taken all the privacy measures requested by the Attorney General (AG) before the settlement was made. This included a privacy audit and limit upon access to riders’ location and other personal details.

Still, the settlement ensured that the transporter would be legally bound for taking specific measures to safeguard user information, including encryption of global positioning satellite based location details and authentication of any worker who should access that data for a commercial purpose.

“We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of riders and drivers,” the spokesman of Uber said in an email, adding the organization is “pleased to have reached an agreement” with the AG.

The company has admitted in the settlement that it was not able to notify drivers, whose driver license numbers and names were taken in a safety breach until more than five months after the incident was discovered.

The breach took place in May 2 years ago and was noticed by the cab company in September 2014. It did not reveal the news to public or motorists until February last year. The violation affected driving partners in a number of states, but New York is only known for conducting an investigation on the company’s handing of the violation.

Most of state laws covering violation notification use vague limits of time, including that of New York, which is requiring notification “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay.”

Amongst states that provide specific guidance, none is over a time span of 2 months. According to reports of Market Watch, the AG of New York would probably proclaim the ending of a 14-month inquiry into the company’s data security regulations and rules.

Uber technologies allow users to hire cabs with the help of a mobile application. It has proved to be quite famous.