Inline Insights

This week's top 3 stories: Germany to reform transport laws to allow ride-hailing and ride-sharing, on-demand bus trials in London, and Berlin is to launch its own MaaS app.

Rapid technological transformations driven by US and Chinese companies are posing a serious challenge to Europe's policymakers. Third way politics looks set to shape much of the regulatory response.

 In the latest sign of ramping up political interest in immersive technologies, the House of Common's Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee has announced an inquiry dedicated to finding out more about the sector, and determining possible avenues for future regulation.

This week's top 3 stories: New UK regulations for taxis, private hire and ride hailing, new restrictions on app-based ride hailing in Poland, and over 8,000 electric scooters are coming to the streets of Madrid.

Following the UK Government's outline of its approach to regulating the taxi and ride hailing sector, Inline has produced a guide to the most important changes coming down the line for companies operating in the space.

Inline Policy's Founder Shomik Panda interviewed Richard Stables, the CEO of e-commerce, advertising and price comparison business Kelkoo Group about how e-commerce is changing, the challenges for regulators and the need for a level playing field.

This week's top 3 stories: UK review of regulation of micromobility "within weeks", another week/another regulation for ride hailing in Spain, and a crackdown on the gig economy is promised in Geneva. 

The coming year is set to be an important period for online platforms in Europe. Having previously paid little regard to online platforms, EU policymakers are now laying the foundations for a more definitive approach to regulating this growing sector of the economy.

After all the talk about GDPR implementation last year, we are starting to come to the crunch point where companies' data practices are being tested by the regulators. The results could create continued regulatory headaches for data-intensive businesses.

The many and varied ways in which drones have already been deployed to aid the public sector are often overlooked. Some of the most significant examples include emergency services, environmental monitoring and protection, and infrastructure maintenance and inspection. 

Today’s Financial Times reports on the developing conflict between UK electric vehicle charging market leader Ecotricity and its competitors. This points to a significant challenge for the Government’s efforts to establish a reliable national network of charging points that can underpin consumer confidence to switch away from petrol and diesel.