Uber: 'With a more open market 220,000 jobs in Europe'

Justice in Italy is opening up to deregulation, but Uber is still required to use professional drivers with a taxi or Ncc licence. Are these sufficient in Italy?

We are absolutely delighted that Italian regulations require the use of the platform by licensed drivers, whether Ncc or taxi. We work with both categories of drivers. If you ask me if they are enough, no, they are not enough. We monitor the performance of the platform in different countries, and in Italy, on average, about 40 per cent of car requests remain unfulfilled. And 80 per cent of the requests, which double from year to year, come from Italians. That is why we are talking to regions and municipalities to issue more licences and faster procedures to become professional drivers.

So, what do you expect now?

We hope that the procedures for obtaining authorisations from municipalities and regions will be reviewed and that the government and parliament will work towards a general revision of the sector's regulations.

How many jobs could an opening of the market develop in Europe?

In all the countries where we operate, Uber's economic impact reached 24 billion last year and created more than 1 million revenue opportunities, mainly for drivers and couriers working with the platform. We also came up with some estimates: our service served more than 48 million citizens. In fact, another very recent study in Europe found that more modern and more open mobility regulations could create at least 220,000 new jobs in Europe, not to mention the potential reduction of CO2 emissions, which could be at least 30%.

In Italy, you will work on the Winter Olympics. Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

One of the big areas that is very important to us, which is developing and where we want to continue to improve, is tourism, for example by developing services at airports. Recent examples, our Uber Yacht we have developed in Ibiza, where we are working with local fleet partners to provide a ride for a few hours to the beaches in the area. Another example of specific products we have developed is in Nairobi, Kenya with Uber Safari.

What are the technological frontiers you are experimenting with?

As far as autonomous vehicles are concerned, we are already using them in several cities in the US: there, consumers can book an Uber and get an autonomous car and travel to different cities. We are also already developing these solutions in the Middle East, where we have a smaller-scale business.

And, in Europe, what are the most interesting projects?

We have already announced that we will start pilot projects in the UK and Germany. But Europe still has to wake up, regulations are backward and with them our ability to develop prototypes. But I am very confident, I know that the EU is working on this issue and I hope for an acceleration soon.