Uber and Autocab purchase cleared following CMA merger investigation
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have announced today that it has cleared Uber’s purchase of Autocab, following a merger investigation.
The CMA opened its Phase 1 merger investigation into ride-hailing company Uber’s acquisition of GPC Software Limited (Autocab) in January 2021. Autocab supplies booking and dispatch technology software (BDT) to taxi companies. It also operates a referral network for taxi and private hire operators called iGo, where those companies can send and receive jobs to each other.
The investigation considered the deal’s possible effect on competition in the supply of BDT, as well as referral networks, and any potential impact of the merger on taxi companies who are Autocab’s current BDT customers. After thorough scrutiny, the CMA has found that there is only limited indirect competition between Uber and Autocab, and the CMA 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 also 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 BDT software sold to them, or by forcing them to pass on data to Uber. However, the CMA found that there are other credible suppliers of BDT and referral networks that these taxi companies could switch to if Uber were to reduce the quality of the Autocab service or force them to share their data.
Joel Bamford, Senior Director of Mergers, said: “Millions of people across the UK rely on taxis every day and technology has transformed the way this industry works. It is therefore important that mergers like these are properly scrutinised to ensure that customers aren’t negatively affected.
“After a thorough investigation, the CMA has found no competition concerns as a result of this deal. This is because the companies are not close competitors, the two businesses will continue to face competition from rivals and Autocab’s customer taxi companies can switch to credible alternative providers if they wish.”
An Autocab spokesperson told TaxiPoint: “We welcome today’s decision from the CMA. By working with Uber, we can scale up our ambitions, and provide hundreds of thousands of additional trips for our customers, and help cement the place of licenced operators in their local community.”
