Draft rules for China's car-hire apps could stifle fledgling industry

The firms behind China’s biggest car-hire apps are voicing concern over proposed regulations that would make forbid drivers from providing rides through the apps unless they register their cars for use as taxis, Caixin reported. “The proposal will completely kill innovations in the Internet economy, such as the car-hire services, because it will turn the sector into an expensive and upmarket version of taxis,” said Wei Wuhui, an IT commentator and lecturer at Shanghai Jiaotong University. But competition from apps like Didi-Kuadi and Uber has prompted strikes in several cities this year as cabbies voiced frustration with what they viewed as the government’s failure to crack down on unlicensed cabs.