London High Court to decide Uber dispute

The battle over taxi apps has gone international, with disputes flaring up in England and France as well as all over the U.S.  Even the regulators don't know what to do and in London, the transport authority has kicked the can to the British High Court.  According to an item in Gigom:

London’s transport authority will ask the British High Court to decide whether car services such as Uber that use smartphones to determine the customer’s fare should be regulated in the same way as traditional “black cabs” and private hire services. 

London cabbies are as highly regulated as any, with officials only licensing cabbies who prove they hat  “The Knowledge” — a comprehensive, testable understanding of the city’s intricate and ancient streets that obviates the need for GPS or paper maps.

These furious with the likes of Uber and Hailo, not just because they pose a massive threat by being more convenient, but because their drivers apparently don’t need to adhere to the same stringent standards. 

UK regulators have "admitted the law in this area was somewhat woolly, and said it wanted High Court judges to clear things up," Gigom says. 

The cabbies aren’t impressed and told the BBC they’d be launching a case of their own.