"We have not been involved in any discussions on regulatory reform and have no plans to launch in Israel," a spokesperson for the company said, distancing Uber from the statements made by Regev in recent days.

Speaking for the first time about the decision with Israel Hayom, Regev said: "I don't understand why everyone is so surprised, I've said before that this would happen. Yes, there are taxi drivers who oppose it, but there are also those who want to be both taxi drivers and Uber drivers. At the moment, the matter is being handled with the Finance Ministry, with Israel's citizens and the cost of living in mind. Our goal is to lower ride prices and keep looking forward."

Uber pulled out of the Israeli market in June 2023, citing difficult market conditions and relatively limited demand. The company does not appear to have any intention of returning to Israel in the near future.

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This is a significant move expected to have a major impact on the country's taxi industry, which may soon undergo additional changes due to proposed fare adjustments recently submitted by the ministry's Special Rides Pricing Committee.

The ministry's proposal to revise taxi fares has already faced pushback from several groups, including the Histadrut's Forum of Independents and Freelancers, which represents the Taxi Drivers' Union within Israel's national labor union. The arrival of a ride-sharing platform such as Uber is expected to disrupt the industry even further.

In a formal letter submitted Monday, the Forum argued that the assumptions used by the committee in determining the new fare structure did not accurately reflect the real costs of operating taxis. But with the imminent arrival of a US company offering online ride-hailing through a shared-service model, some question whether a renewed discussion of the fare issue is even relevant.

It is worth noting that Uber has faced heavy criticism in the US and Europe over claims that it undermines the livelihoods of local taxi drivers. Protests against the company took place as early as 2016, and in 2023 Uber shut down operations in Israel, citing regulatory hurdles and the country's relatively small market.

An Uber spokesperson stated: "We have not been involved in any discussions on regulatory reform, and have no plans to launch in Israel."

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The ride-hailing giant Uber has been slapped with a €290 million ($324 million) fine by Dutch regulators for transferring European drivers' personal data to US servers, violating EU privacy rules, the BBC reports.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) announced on Monday that Uber's actions constituted a "serious violation" of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the watchdog, the company failed to adequately protect driver information when transferring it to its US headquarters over a two-year period. DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen emphasized, "That is very serious. Uber failed to meet GDPR requirements to ensure the level of protection to the data with regard to transfers to the US."

The transferred data reportedly included sensitive information such as ID documents, taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment details, and in some cases, even criminal and medical records of drivers.

Uber has been fined $324 million for transferring European drivers' data to the US. The fine followed an investigation triggered after a French organization advocated on behalf of over 170 taxi drivers in the country. Read the full story here: https://t.co/IXpOjBXZlJ pic.twitter.com/8fTclCHaYk

— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) August 26, 2024

 "Uber's cross-border data transfer process was compliant with GDPR during a 3-year period of immense uncertainty between the EU and US," an Uber spokesperson said. "This flawed decision and extraordinary fine are completely unjustified," they added.

The investigation was initiated after more than 170 French drivers filed complaints with a French human rights group, which then escalated the issue to France's data protection watchdog. Under GDPR rules, Uber's European headquarters in the Netherlands made the Dutch DPA responsible for handling the case.

Wolfsen emphasized the importance of GDPR in protecting individuals' rights in Europe. "In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care," he explained.

This marks the third fine imposed on Uber by the Dutch DPA, following penalties of €600,000 ($669,960) in 2018 and €10 million ($11 million) last year. The regulators' action aligns with the EU's broader efforts to enforce data protection rules and impose significant fines on tech companies for violations.

The EU has been ramping up its regulatory efforts against big tech firms in recent years, with Irish regulators fining TikTok €345 million ($385 million) last year for violating children's privacy under GDPR rules.

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Do they fishtail when they hit black ice? Do they carp about traffic? The jokes almost make themselves, but it's true – in new research from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, a goldfish has successfully "driven" a robotic car.

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Hoping to discover whether animals' innate navigational abilities are universal or restricted to their home environments, BGU researchers designed a set of wheels placed under a goldfish tank. The wheels were tricked out with a camera to record and translate the fish's movements into wheel movements.

To test whether the fish was really navigating, researchers placed a clearly visible target on the wall opposite the tank. After a few days of training, the fish navigated to the target. Moreover, they were able to do so even if they hit a wall "en route." They also avoided being fooled by false targets researchers placed in their paths, making them more savvy than some Waze users.

Video: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The team discovered that a goldfish's navigational ability supersedes its watery environs.

"The study hints that navigational ability is universal rather than specific to the environment. Second, it shows that goldfish have the cognitive ability to learn a complex task in an environment completely unlike the one they evolved in. As anyone who has tried to learn how to ride a bike or to drive a car knows, it's challenging at first," says Shachar Givon, a Ph.D. student in the Life Sciences Department in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Givon conducted the study with Matan Samina, an MSc student in the Biomedical Engineering Department in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Professor Ohad Ben Shahar of the Computer Sciences Department and head of the School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, and Professor Ronen Segev ​of the Life Sciences & Biomedical Engineering Departments.

Their findings were published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Behavioural Brain Research.

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Uber Technologies has partnered with Israel's AU10TIX, a global identity verification and authentication platform, to implement a program in cities in Mexico, Argentina and Chile that helps verify the identity of new riders who choose cash as their preferred method of payment. The program leverages AU10TIX's proprietary technology to build trust between rider and driver.

The new program requires certain users who request to pay in cash to scan an official identification such as their voting credentials, national ID, passport or driver's license for verification.

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"In the current business climate, more drivers and riders are wanting added reassurance for  cash payment options, and we want to give them that," says Ron Atzmon, AU10TIX active deputy chairman.

"Working together with Uber, we are delivering on this with AU10TIX's identity document verification technology that provides the reliability, efficiency and scalability required to help provide peace of mind," Atzmon said.

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