UK Competition Authority OKs Uber’s Buyout Of Autocab

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has cleared Uber’s buyout of Autocab, which provides software for booking and dispatching in the taxi industry. Autocab also operates a referral network for taxi and private-hire operators.

“Millions of people across the U.K. rely on taxis every day and technology has transformed the way this industry works,” said Joel Bamford, the authority’s senior director of mergers. “It is therefore important that mergers like these are properly scrutinized to ensure that customers aren’t negatively affected.”

In a press release, the agency said that one issue it considered was “the deal’s possible effect on competition” in the supply of booking and dispatch technology. The agency said that, “after thorough scrutiny,” it concluded that “there is only limited indirect competition between Uber and Autocab.” The competition authority said it “did not find evidence to indicate that Autocab was likely to become a significant and more direct competitor to Uber in the future.”

The CMA said that it “considered whether Autocab and Uber could try to put Autocab’s taxi company customers that compete against Uber at a disadvantage by reducing the quality” of the products sold to them, “or by forcing them to pass on data to Uber.” However, the competition authority “found that there are other credible suppliers” of the taxi technology as well as referral networks that other “companies could switch to if Uber were to reduce the quality of the Autocab service or force them to share their data.”

The competition authority began its investigation in January 2021. Uber struck the deal to buy out Autocab last August.

Autocab calls its referral network iGo. Taxi companies use iGo when demand exceeds their available drivers or if a customer is going out of their service area. In addition, some companies, such in the travel and emergency transportation businesses, use the referral network because they do not provide taxi services.