The rental car industry has formally demanded the restructuring of a government-led social consultative body on autonomous-driving taxis, condemning its exclusion as "not a democratic consensus, but the exercise of a veto by the taxi cartel."
The Korea Rent-A-Car Business Association Federation (hereinafter the Federation) issued a statement on Monday saying, "We strongly protest the fact that the agenda for the rental car industry's official participation in the 'Autonomous-Driving Taxi Social Consultative Body' operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was rejected due to organized obstruction by taxi-related parties." The Federation added, "We call for the full restructuring of the council and the guarantee of legitimate participation by the rental car industry." According to the Federation, the social consultative body put the rental car industry's participation to a vote on the 27th of last month, but it was rejected by 7 votes against to 5 in favor.
The social consultative body is an organization launched in January this year by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to create a taxi business model suited to the autonomous-driving era. A total of 12 organizations and individuals participate, including four taxi-related groups along with Kakao Mobility, Uber, the Korea Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority. The Federation has been attending the council as an observer but has not been granted voting rights, and has continually requested official participation (▶[Exclusive] "Fearing a Second Tada"… Rental Car Industry Demands Participation in Autonomous-Driving Taxi Council). The Federation argues that since the distinction between taxis and rental cars becomes blurred in the autonomous-driving era, the rental car industry should be involved from the institutional design stage. The taxi industry, however, maintains that the current taxi-license-based system should continue into the autonomous-driving era.
In its statement, the Federation said, "While technological progress is breaking down barriers between industries, the government and the council are blocking innovation by being trapped in the outdated 'license' framework of the past." It expressed concern that "if the (autonomous-driving) market is monopolized around taxi licenses, the rental car industry will be entirely excluded from the future market without legal basis or substantive remedy." The Federation further emphasized, "For the council to reach conclusions while excluding the rental car industry is a repetition of the mistakes of the Tada Ban Law," adding, "It is clear that monopolizing the future autonomous-driving transport market for holders of specific licenses alone will lead to a decline in national technological competitiveness and infringement of consumer benefits."
The Federation stated, "The rental car industry is a foundational industry capable of performing core roles in the autonomous-driving sector, including vehicle operation, maintenance, fleet management, and charging and servicing infrastructure," and demanded, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport should re-examine from scratch a true win-win model in which rental cars and taxis can coexist." Specifically, the Federation argued, "The current composition, in which taxi-related groups account for nearly half of the members, structurally forces a biased conclusion," and called for the council "to be immediately restructured and the Federation's legitimate participation guaranteed."
