Jerry Brito on Setting Lyft and Uber Free
Virginia regulators seem determined to apply nonsensical rules to Lyft and Uber.
(Bochumi / Wikimedia Commons)
Technological innovation sometimes makes laws obsolete.
Consider the "Red Flag Laws" of the late 19th century, which required early automobiles traveling on roads to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag in order to warn others on horses of the vehicle's approach.
Today, most states require cars traveling on roads to have a human driver at the wheel—a regulation that to our descendants will sound just as preposterous as flag-waving does to us.
And yet Virginia regulators seem determined to apply nonsensical rules to Lyft and Uber, writes Jerry Brito.
Rather than react defensively, regulators should allow for permission-less innovation while they determine if and how they will ultimately proceed, according to Brito.
