Uber suspends low-cost service in France amid legal pressure

<g data-gr-id="26">Uber</g> is suspending its low-cost ride- hailing service in France, hoping to defuse an escalating legal dispute and <g data-gr-id="27">sometimes-violent</g> tensions with traditional French taxi drivers. The unusual concession comes after the stakes mounted this week in Uber's standoff with France: Two senior European managers for San Francisco-based company were detained Monday and ordered to stand trial, charged with "deceptive commercial practices."

It reflects the broader struggle of governments to keep up with fast-moving technology and how to tax operations like Uber's and protect workers and consumers. Companies like Uber argue that governments are unfairly protecting entrenched industries instead of adapting to the times.

Uber Technologies Inc has run into legal problems elsewhere in Europe, as well as in China and India. The French battle centers around Uber's low-cost service, in <g data-gr-id="19">France</g> called UberPop, which links users to drivers without professional taxi or chauffeur licenses. French authorities had ordered it shut down, but Uber refused, pending a legal decision at a top French court.

Uber France chief Thibaud <g data-gr-id="18">Simphaud</g> said in an interview published today in Le Monde that the company changed its mind "in a spirit of bringing peace" with authorities. <g data-gr-id="17">An Uber</g> spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that the service is being suspended starting tonight.