ABSTRACT
Urban mobility has been disrupted by digital platforms such as Uber. Uber connects drivers and riders, creating a network layer on top of them which enables the more efficient matching of supply and demand. Algorithms automatically match supply and demand creating new complementarities, new network effects and overall efficiency: reduction in waiting times and empty runs, shared rides, etc. Taxis, the most fragmented of the transport sectors, have been substituted by transport network companies coordinating alternative transport suppliers (private hire vehicles and private drivers with their own vehicles). Regulators have struggled to cope with the new industrial organization model. Is Uber providing a transport service or a mere digital intermediation service, subject to little regulation?
