Uber Smartphone Apps Provisionally Banned in Italy

Now the Italian court has ruled in favor of the taxi drivers who filed a suit against Uber, claiming it represented "unfair competition".

According to a court document consumers can no longer utilize Uber's X, Black, Lux, SUV, XL, Select and Van functions while in Italy. In Italy, the cab companies got a much better outcome when a court banned Uber from having a presence in the country, Reuters reports.

Don't count on taking an Uber from Prati to Trastevere anytime soon - or anywhere else in the entire country of Italy, for that matter. The court ruled that the company provided unfair competition and gave it 10 days to cease services in Italy.

Uber faced similar problems in the USA where American taxi companies lobbied to stop the spread of the cab-hailing firm when it was just a startup. Luckily the company has been given a 10 day grace period to remove their operations, but that's still not a lot of time to completely shut down their operations and move elsewhere.

Conflict between Uber and Italian taxi services turned legal in 2015, when locals argued that they are unable to compete with the app. Places where the company has been restricted by regulation include Barcelona, Spain and Austin Texas, while authorities in Germany and France have disapproved versions of the app that facilitate the use of unlicensed drivers.

Uber also stated that it was "shocked" by the ruling.

Now Pittsburgh, where Uber first released a fleet of self-driving cars and where the ride-hailing company keeps its autonomous vehicle headquarters, may be regretting welcoming the company with open arms.

The company won a similar court case in London past year, in which the High Court in London ruled Uber was not breaking the law with its taxi service app.