Uber is gearing up for a fight with Maryland regulators that could see it and rival ride-hailing app service Lyft abandon operating in the state. At issue is driver screening. Maryland wants to make the companies use the FBI fingerprinting background check system, but the ride-hailing services have been adamantly against it in the past, to the point of ending operations in Austin, Texas over it.
Hearings by the Maryland’s Public Service Commission are starting on Thursday, with a decision expected in a month. Uber made its point very clear over the course of dozens of pages in a petition against the requirement. Uber's main argument stems from the fact that fingerprinting doesn't take into account arrests that don't involve fingerprints being taken, while its own system using court records is a better method.
If all of this sounds familiar, you're right. It's the same fight Uber and Maryland had starting in 2014 over how to regulate the company and thus manage its safety system. Uber led an intense public campaign with free rides to go with a hashtag about it, leading to a temporary resolution in the spring of 2015. The issue was tabled essentially until now, when it could be brought back up. Expect just as feverish a defense as last time, possibly even more so now that the ride-hailing app world is more established, with Uber claiming to have given over 10 million rides in Maryland.
We've reached out to Uber and Lyft and will update when we hear back.
