The China Post
Date: December 7, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan risks “going backward” if it fails to embrace new technologies, Uber’s
Uber’s Asia Regional General Manager Michael Brown, left, and Uber Taiwan General Manager Gu Li-kai (顧立楷) speak at a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday, Dec. 6. They urged the government to allow open dialogue over the establishment of regulations for the so-called sharing economy. (Sun Hsin Hsuan, The China Post)
regional chief said Tuesday at a press conference in Taipei.
A recently proposed amendment by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to slap Uber Taiwan drivers with up to NT$25 million in fines “threatens innovation,” Uber’s Asia Regional General Manager Michael Brown said.
Brown added that the weight of the penalty “has never been seen in any other place in the world.”
Taiwan was the second market that Uber entered in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm currently operates in four cities on the island.
More than 1 million people in Taiwan downloaded the Uber app, Brown said.
Nonetheless, the government was “turning its back on the innovation that ride-sharing represents,” Brown said. [FULL STORY]
