Are Uber and Transportation Network Companies the Future of Transportation (Law) and Employment (Law)?

Abstract

This Article largely eschews easy or reflexive judgments about Uber or other TNCs. In this piece, the Author asks two questions about the economic, social, technical, and political aspects of TNCs and their interactions with the law. First, are Uber and TNCs the future of transportation (and transportation law)? And second, are Uber and TNCs the future of employment (and employment law)? In a common-law system, reasoning from precedent is always a form of prediction. As Oliver Wendell Holmes stated, “[t]he prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.” But answering these questions is more than a legal issue. Such predictions depend on analyzing not just legal precedents but also social and economic trends. Predicting the future, especially of technology, is always a risky and fraught task. Yet drawing on trends we can see developing now, portions of the “uber” business model are here to stay, while other parts are unlikely to remain.