Haxi

Haxi
Private company
Industry Real-time ridesharing
Founded London, United Kingdom December 21, 2014 (2014-12-21) (beta)
Founders
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Products Mobile apps
Website www.haxi.me
Haxi
Original author(s) Joonas Kirsebom, Simon Lund
Initial release 16 February 2014 (2014-02-16)[1]
Stable release
1.12 / 11 July 2016 (2016-07-11)
Written in Java, Objective-C
Operating system Android, iOS
Platform Web, Android, iOS
Size 2.84 MB
Available in 5 languages
Type App, real-time ridesharing, transportation

Haxi is a free shared transport application that enables users to share transport on short and mid range distances. The name is a portmanteau of "hack" and "taxi". Registered users can be drivers, passengers, or both. Unregistered users cannot get contact details on other users. No registration is needed to logon. The firm's mobile applications facilitates peer-to-peer ridesharing by enabling passengers who need a ride to request one from available "community drivers".

Haxi was created by Aleksander Soender, Joonas Kirsebom and Robert Daniel Nagy in October 2013. By December 2013, the web service was launched in Stavanger, Norway. Haxi released applications for Android and iPhone in March 2014. The service is available in English, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. The company was registered in April 2014 as Haxi Ltd in London, Great Britain. Angel investor funding for Haxi was secured in June 2014.[2][3]

Since December 2013,[4] Haxi grew into the biggest ridesharing network in Norway in 6 months. In June 2014, it was estimated that 11,000 Norwegians were using Haxi.[5] By August 2014, that number has risen to 31,000 users with over 2,000 registered drivers in Norway alone.[6]

In September 2014, Haxi surpassed 3,000 registered drivers, and has 42,000 users, with 72% using the app more than once. At this growth rate, Haxi is expected to become bigger than the whole Norwegian taxi force combined by December 2014.[7][8] Haxi is mentioned as one of the most interesting companies in the ridesharing market Worldwide.[9][10] In June 2014, Norwegian Taxi Association CEO, Lars Hjelmeng, estimated that ridesharing via Haxi and social media is generating up to one billion NOK (Norwegian Krone) annually.[11] In March 2017 the total number of active drivers on Haxi passed the 10.000 mark in Scandinavia. [12]

Controversy

Norway

Since Haxi officially launched in December 2013, there has been much media attention on the topic of illegal taxicab operation in the Norwegian press.[13][14][15][16][17]

On March 9, 2014, local taxi drivers drove two students from Stavanger to Copenhagen for free as a protest against Haxi.[18]

On August 28, 2014, the Norwegian Taxi Association and taxi operator I-taxi notified the police about a Haxi user for unlicensed taxi operation. The case was later dropped by the police in Grimstad.[19]

On October 7, 2014, the Norwegian Transport Worker Association notified the police in Oslo about Haxi for operating an unlicensed taxi operation.[20][21] A week later, on October 13, 2014, the police in Oslo informed the Norwegian Transport Worker Association that the case against Haxi was dropped.[22]

From September to November 2014, undercover agents from Stavanger Police booked several rides from Haxi drivers. In December 2014, investigators began to interview drivers and fine them for 8.000 NOK and three months confiscation of the car for breaking the Yrketransportlov.[23] On December 17, 2014, Stavanger Police published a press release saying 3 of 8 Haxi users were official taxi drivers using the service for spontaneous ridesharing.[24] Haxi recommended all drivers to decline the fine and offered all drivers financial and legal support to test the case in court. Three Haxi drivers accepted this offer from Haxi and declined to pay the fines.[25]

On May 11, 2015, the trial started against three drivers from the Haxi community in the Stavanger District Court (Tingrett). The three drivers were granted legal aid by the judge because of the principle which is rare in administrative law cases.[26] Main discussion points between the prosecutor, police lawyer, Stian Eskeland and the defandant Torbjørn Kolås Sognefest from Advokatfirmaet Elden were police entrapment, the taxi law Yrketransportloven, double jeopardy, and the definition of public space.[27]

On May 20, 2015, the three Haxi drivers accused of breaking the Norwegian taxi law Yrketransportloven were acquitted by three concurring judges in the Stavanger District Court.[28] Stavanger Police lost the case against the three Haxi drivers because prosecutor Stian Eskeland could not convince the judges that the Haxi app was part of public space. Spontaneous ridesharing via Haxi was announced legal in local media.[29][30]

On June 2, 2015, the prosecutor Stian Eskeland from the Stavanger Police announced that they have appealed the acquittal of the three Haxi drivers to the Gulating Court of Appeal (Lagmannsrett).[31][32]

On February 11, 2016, the appeal trial started in the Gulating Court of Appeal in Stavanger Norway against the three Haxi drivers who were acquitted by the Stavanger District Court in May 2015.[33]

On February 15, 2016, the three Haxi drivers were acquitted by the seven concurring judges in Gulating Court of Appeal.[34]

February 29, 2016, Stavanger Police announced the case was appealed for the Supreme Court of Norway.[35] on April 5, 2016, the Supreme Court of Norway accepted the appeal by the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority.[36]

In June 2016, The Supreme Court of Norway ruled that the Haxi app could not be considered a "public place", and that thus, using Haxi cannot be considered illegal based on the transport law that prohibits offering person transport on a public place.[37]


Denmark

In June 2014, Haxi drivers started appearing in Denmark.[38] On the July 10, 2014, the Danish Transport Authority notified the police about Haxi for operating an unlicensed taxi service.[39][40]

On July 29, 2014, Haxi requested the Danish Transport Authority to revoke the note to the police.[41]

March 21, 2016, Danish Police announced all Haxi investigations were cancelled.[42][43]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/721790330/
  2. ↑ Oftebro, Ida (June 16, 2014). "11.000 nordmænd bruker allerede pirattaxi app". mobilen.no.
  3. ↑ Lemarchand, Rafael (August 18, 2014). "Controversial App Haxi lingers in the grey zone of Taxipiratism". ArcticStartup.
  4. ↑ Grimen, Bjørn (December 19, 2013). "Dette er uten tvil ulovlig virksomhet". NRK.NO.
  5. ↑ Oftebro, Ida (June 16, 2014). "11 000 nordmenn bruker allerede pirattaxi-app". Mobilen.no.
  6. ↑ Aldridge, Øystein (August 17, 2014). "Mens vi venter på fremtiden". Aftenposten.
  7. ↑ Oftebro, Ida (September 4, 2014). "Tror denne appen vil bli større enn alle Norges taxier i år". Mobilen.no.
  8. ↑ http://www.transportloyve.no/STATIST.ASP
  9. ↑ Krom, Derrick (September 23, 2014). "Five Companies that are Trying to Compete with Uber". Worthly.com.
  10. ↑ Freedman, Donna (November 12, 2014). "Can Ride Sharing Provide An Uber-Lyft To Your Income". Money Talks News.
  11. ↑ http://www.taxiforbundet.no/sfiles/45/13/2/file/taxi_4-2014-web.pdf
  12. ↑ Ø. Wittorff, Jacob (March 29, 2017). "Transport-dele-tjenesten Haxi øjner hul i markedet efter Ubers farvel: "Vi ser en kæmpe-mulighed i både København og resten af Danmark"". Computerworld.
  13. ↑ Iren Villalobos, Rosa (March 26, 2014). "Taxinæringen går sterkt ut mot Haxi". NRK.
  14. ↑ Sjøberg, Jeanette (June 18, 2014). "Norsk taxinæring raser over "kompiskjøring"". Aftenposten.no.
  15. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Haxi bryter ikke norsk lov". Sandnesposten.
  16. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Taxinæringen føler seg snytt av kompiskjøring". Sandnesposten.
  17. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Politiet advarer pirattaxisjåfører". Sandnesposten.
  18. ↑ Berntsen Jåsund, Cecilie (March 3, 2014). "40 mil lang taxidugnad mot piratkjøring". NRK.
  19. ↑ http://www.taxiforbundet.no/sfiles/21/23/2/file/20140825-piratanmeldelse.pdf
  20. ↑ http://www.transportarbeider.no/kunder/ntf/cms.nsf/pages/anmelder-haxi-for-piratvirksomhet
  21. ↑ Eriksen, Nina (October 7, 2014). "Haxi politianmeldes for piratvirksomhet". NRK.
  22. ↑ Solstad, Roy Ervin (November 12, 2014). "Anker Haxi-henleggelse". Fri Fagbevegelse.
  23. ↑ Rolfsnes, May-Helen (December 10, 2014). "Flere Haxi-sjåfører anmeldt i Stavanger". Aftenbladet.
  24. ↑ Mathisen, Svein Jacob (December 17, 2014). "Taxisjåførar køyrer piratdrosje". NRK.
  25. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (December 10, 2014). "Haxi vil hjelpe anmeldt sjåfør med å ta saken for retten". E24.
  26. ↑ Løhre, Maren (May 7, 2015). "Tre Haxi sjåfører nektet å betale pirat bot. Manda starter rettssaken". E24.
  27. ↑ Munkvik, Cornelius (May 11, 2015). "Pirattaxirettssak i tingretten". Aftenbladet.
  28. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (May 20, 2015). "Alle Haxisjåfører er frifunnet". E24.
  29. ↑ Solberg, Egil M. (May 21, 2015). "Haxi virksomhet er lovlig". Radio Haugaland.
  30. ↑ Pedersen, Ragnhild Maria Solbakk (May 20, 2015). "Dom: Haxisjåfører frifunnet". Stavanger Tingrett.
  31. ↑ Eskeland, Stian (June 2, 2015). "Påtalemyndighetens Anke Haxi". Stavanger Police.
  32. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (June 4, 2015). "Påtalemyndigheten anker Haxi dommen". E24.
  33. ↑ Munkvik, Cornelius (February 11, 2016). "Følg Haxi-saken i Gulating lagmannsrett". Aftenbaldet.
  34. ↑ Knudsen, Eigil (February 18, 2016). "Tre Haxi-sjåfører ble frikjent i retten". tek.no.
  35. ↑ NTB (February 29, 2016). "Haxisaken ankes til Høyesterett". Dagens Næringsliv.
  36. ↑ NTB, NTB (April 5, 2016). "Høyesterett vil behandle Haxi-saken". Dagens Næringsliv.
  37. ↑ "Advokat etter Haxi-dom: Tror løyveplikten står for fall". E24. July 3, 2016.
  38. ↑ Stig Nielsen, Nicolas (June 29, 2014). "Taxibranchen: Ny samkørselstjeneste skaber pirattaxier". MX.dk.
  39. ↑ Faurfelt, Rikke (June 10, 2014). "Trafikstyrelsen politianmelder omstridt samkørselstjeneste". DR Nyhederne.
  40. ↑ http://www.trafikstyrelsen.dk/DA/Presse/Nyhedsarkiv/Erhvervstransport/2014/07/Trafikstyrelsen-politianmelder-Haxi.aspx
  41. ↑ http://www.transportnyhederne.dk/?Id=53494
  42. ↑ Thorkil-Jensen, Vibeke (March 21, 2016). "Efterforskning bliver standset". Københavns Politi.
  43. ↑ Düvel, Lars (May 2, 2016). "Taxi-anklager mod Uber-pendant droppet". Børsen.
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