The CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick has announced his plan to create over 50,000 jobs in Europe.
Uber is a mobile app with which passengers can order a taxi to their destination using satellite navigation and other features. These include a recent partnership with Spotify, allowing passengers to play their own choice of music.
The BBC reports that the app is currently available in 250 locations around the globe and valued at £25.5 billion.
But Uber came up against difficulties and legislation when it began to expand into Europe. And Kalanick has aimed to address the issues in a plan revealed at the Digital-Life-Design Conference on January 18, 2015 in Munich, Germany.
What’s the plan?
Kalanick has described his plan as a “new partnership” with European cities.
Kalanick said: “Uber wants to partner closely with tax authorities to increase transportation providers’ compliance and overall tax revenue for cities and countries across Europe”.
Kalanick’s comments have been seen as an attempt to pacify some of the company’s critics.
Last year, the company ran in to trouble with both citizens and states: in cities such as London, competing taxi drivers held major protests; in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain, the courts served Uber with injunctions for violation of licensing rules.
Kalanick has responded to the injunctions and criticism of his company. He is an outspoken critic of regulations and bureaucracy, both of which he reckons fall in favour of established taxi firms.
He believes Uber can provide a better service to people and governments than the older firms.
Can Uber convince leaders?
Kalanick is working with European governments to address their legislative concerns. He said Uber is developing both tools to improve safety, and tools to “improve communication with local officials and law enforcement.”
He argued that Uber’s presence in any city will have economic benefits and will boost employment, concluding: “At the end of 2015, if we can make these partnerships happen, we create 50,000 new EU jobs”.