California’s attorney general Kamala Harris has threatened legal action against Uber unless they comply and “immediately” remove self-driving vehicles from the roads in San Francisco.

The threat was released by the attorney general in a letter released to the public shortly after Uber stated it would defy the states regulations out of principle.

Only 20 companies have been given approval to test self-driving cars in California and Uber had not been included due to the company refusing to abide by the same rules and regulations as its rivals.

The DMV had ordered Uber to either obtain a permit or remove its self-driving vehicles from the road on its first day on the trail which they had started without permission.

The letter released by the attorney general has warned that should Uber not comply with the rules they will “seek injunctive and other appropriate relief”.

Uber has made it clear that they have no intention of backing down as the head of Uber’s autonomous vehicle programme, Anthony Levandowski said that the rules did not apply to the fleet due to the particular form of technology used in the vehicle.

He then went on to say, “We cannot in good conscience sign up to regulation for something we’re not doing,”

“It’s an important issue of principle about when companies can operate self-driving cars on the roads and the uneven application of state-wide rules across very similar types of technology.”

Levandowski argued that Uber’s fleet were not capable of operating without being controlled/monitored by a human operator and therefore they did not need to seek a testing permit. He went on to compare the technology to Tesla’s autopilot feature which the DMV deemed they did not need a permit for.

In May of 2016 the first known death caused by a self-driving car took place in a Tesla vehicle that was using auto pilot.

Uber first rolled out the fleet of autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh back in August, the home of Uber’s self-driving-car facility. The programme was met with enthusiasm by local officials however the same cannot be said about San Francisco.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, the police departments traffic division was not given the heads up on Uber’s programme until after it had begun. Two of the Uber vehicles had been observed running red lights on the first day of the pilot tests however Uber has advised that the drivers involved had been suspended.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has also highlighted concerns with the programme as Brian Wiedenmeier posted about them in a blog post. Wiedenmeier had been given an invitation to take a ride in one of the vehicle prior to the launch however the journey only deepened his concerns with the vehicle ability to operate safely on the streets that they share with bicyclists.

The current conflict has furthered the argument that critics class as unethical and illegal tactics that the company uses in order to grow their business.

Gett will be looking to launch a carpooling service, similar to its rival Uber, in the Capital and possibly other markets in places such as New York. Gett Together

The founder and chief executive of Gett, Shahar Waiser has stated that it could achieve “price point in carpooling that’s never been done before”

For London that would be similar to tube prices which would be fixed.

“It’s a shared commute. There are many people in the car and actually using black cabs gives opportunity to have more people in the vehicle in comfort. With that we can achieve, firstly, faster speeds because we have access to the bus lanes,” said Waiser.

The service will take on UberPool which last week extended the areas of cover across the city.

Gett Together was available to some users on the 05/12/2016 and will be rolled out to a wider audience over the coming weeks.

Uber Possibly looking at a £150 Million Plus Tax bill as their drivers aren’t classed as Self-Employed

The latest tribunal ruling could land Uber with a tax bill running into the hundreds of millions of Pounds. Earlier in the month in a landmark judgement tribunal judges ruled that 2 drivers who Uber were claiming were self-employed should actually be classed as employed and therefore entitled to holiday pay and sick pay.

The ruling is a huge blow to Uber’s business model but will also have serious implications to a host of other service industries. If Ubers drivers were to be classed as employees rather than self-employed contractors the tax bill will be huge. Uber is currently in the process of appealing the ruling but it has opened up the doors for 40,000 drivers in London to challenge their employment status.

It has been estimated that their National Insurance Contributions alone could top £13 million a month, this would have a serious effect on their bottom line. The reclassification of their employees could also that they could be forced to pay VAT on all money raised from fares. Uber is unlikely to go down without a fight and has already written to all their drivers telling them the ruling is unique and will not result in a change of its terms of business. GMB Union that bought about the tribunal has heavily criticised Uber’s stance.

Quotax are pleased to announce that their sponsored welterweight, Dean Richardson, has been invited to fight on the under card of George Grove’s bout against Eduard Gutknecht at the SSE Arena Wembley on 18^th November.

This means that Richardson’s proposed fight at York Hall, Bethnal Green on 29^th October has been cancelled but fighting at Wembley will provide him with more exposure as well as a great opportunity to fight in a massive venue.

Anyone interested in going along and supporting one of London’s youngest taxi drivers in his third professional bout should contact 07512 542168.

London’s mayor has announced a list of measures which are to support the black cab trade amid growing competition from the private hire sector.

Sadiq Khan has come forward and pledges that the number of taxi ranks will increase from 500 to 600 over the next four years with 20 more bus lanes operational for cabbies to use.

He went on further to state that he wants the Knowledge to be accredited as a formal qualification which would allow applicants to apply for study loans.

Come 2017 £5000 grants will be put in place to scrap old and more polluting taxis.

TFL will also feature taxi information via its online journey planner by summer 2017.

Mr Khan has also set out his intention to push ahead with the new rules for private hire drivers such as Uber.

The new rule includes drivers being required to pass an English test involving reading, writing and listening tests as well as more robust insurance regulations.

As previously reported Uber claims the proposals would pile “extra costs” for licensed private hire drivers and they are still going ahead with the High Court challenge against the rules.

Mr Khan has said he was “determined to drive up standards and improve safety for every passenger in London, while protecting the future of our iconic black cabs that provide a unique and invaluable service for London”

The plan has been welcomed by the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association however the RMT union, which represents taxis drivers, stated that it was “bitterly disappointed” that certain issues had not been addressed by the mayor such as ‘illegal plying for hire and abuse of regulations’