Haxi

Haxi
Private company
Industry On-demand ridesharing
Founded 2014
Founders
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Products Mobile apps
Website www.haxi.me
Haxi App
Original author(s) Joonas Kirsebom, Simon Lund
Initial release 16 February 2014 (2014-02-16) [1]
Written in Objective-C, Java
Operating system Android, iOS
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 either be drivers, passengers, or both. Unregistered users cannot get contact details on other users. The company'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 and by December 2013 the web service was launched in Stavanger, Norway. Haxi released applications for iPhone and Android 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 has grown to 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 passed the 3,000 registered driver mark and has 42,000 users, with 72% using the app more than once. At this growing rate Haxi is expected to become bigger than the entire 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, the CEO of the Norwegian Taxi Association, Lars Hjelmeng estimated that ridesharing via Haxi and social media is generating up to one billion NOK (Norwegian Krone) annually.[11]

Controversy

Norway

Since Haxi officially launched in December 2013, there has been a lot of media attention on the subject of illegal taxicab operation in the Norwegian press.[12][13][14][15][16]

On March 9, 2014, local taxi drivers drove two students from Stavanger to Copenhagen for free as a protest against Haxi.[17]

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. [18]

On October 7, 2014 the Norwegian Transport Worker Association notified the police in Oslo about Haxi for operating an unlicensed taxi operation. [19][20] A week later, on October 13, 2014, the police in Oslo informed the Norwegian Transport Worker Association that the case against Haxi was dropped.[21]

From September to November, 2014 undercover agents from Stavanger Police booked several rides from Haxi drivers. In December, 2014 investigators started to interview drivers and fined them with 8.000 NOK and three months confiscation of the car for breaking the Yrketransportlov. [22] On December 17, 2014 Stavanger Police published a press release saying 3 out of 8 Haxi users were official taxi drivers using the service for spontaneous ridesharing. [23] Haxi recommended all drivers to decline the fine and offered all drivers financial support and legal help to test the case in court. Three Haxi drivers accepted this offer from Haxi and declined to pay the fines. [24]

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 [25] because of the principle which is rare in administrative law cases. 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. [26]

On May 20, 2015 the three Haxi drivers accused for breaking the Norwegian taxi law Yrketransportloven were acquitted by three concurring judges in the Stavanger District Court. [27] 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. [28] [29]

On June 2, 2015 the prosecutor Stian Eskeland from Stavanger Police announced that they have appealed the acquittal of the three Haxi drivers to the Gulating Court of Appeal (Lagmannsrett). [30] [31]

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 [32]

On February 15, 2016 the three Haxi drivers were acquitted by the seven concurring judges in Gulating Court of Appeal [33]

February 29, 2016 Stavanger Police announced the case was appealed for the Supreme Court of Norway [34] April 5, 2016 Supreme Court of Norway accepted the appeal by the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority [35]

Denmark

In June 2014, Haxi drivers started appearing in Denmark.[36] On the July 10, 2014, the Danish Transport Authority notified the police about Haxi for operating an unlicensed taxi service.[37][38]

On the July 29, 2014 Haxi requested the Danish Transport Authority to revoke the note to the police [39]

March 21, 2016 Danish Police announced all Haxi investigations were cancelled [40]

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. ↑ Iren Villalobos, Rosa (March 26, 2014). "Taxinæringen går sterkt ut mot Haxi". NRK.
  13. ↑ Sjøberg, Jeanette (June 18, 2014). "Norsk taxinæring raser over "kompiskjøring"". Aftenposten.no.
  14. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Haxi bryter ikke norsk lov". Sandnesposten.
  15. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Taxinæringen føler seg snytt av kompiskjøring". Sandnesposten.
  16. ↑ Kydland, Andreas (February 6, 2014). "Politiet advarer pirattaxisjåfører". Sandnesposten.
  17. ↑ Berntsen Jåsund, Cecilie (March 3, 2014). "40 mil lang taxidugnad mot piratkjøring". NRK.
  18. ↑ http://www.taxiforbundet.no/sfiles/21/23/2/file/20140825-piratanmeldelse.pdf
  19. ↑ http://www.transportarbeider.no/kunder/ntf/cms.nsf/pages/anmelder-haxi-for-piratvirksomhet
  20. ↑ Eriksen, Nina (October 7, 2014). "Haxi politianmeldes for piratvirksomhet". NRK.
  21. ↑ Solstad, Roy Ervin (November 12, 2014). "Anker Haxi-henleggelse". Fri Fagbevegelse.
  22. ↑ Rolfsnes, May-Helen (December 10, 2014). "Flere Haxi-sjåfører anmeldt i Stavanger". Aftenbladet.
  23. ↑ Mathisen, Svein Jacob (December 17, 2014). "Taxisjåførar køyrer piratdrosje". NRK.
  24. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (December 10, 2014). "Haxi vil hjelpe anmeldt sjåfør med å ta saken for retten". E24.
  25. ↑ Løhre, Maren (May 7, 2015). "Tre Haxi sjåfører nektet å betale pirat bot. Manda starter rettssaken". E24.
  26. ↑ Munkvik, Cornelius (May 11, 2015). "Pirattaxirettssak i tingretten". Aftenbladet.
  27. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (May 20, 2015). "Alle Haxisjåfører er frifunnet". E24.
  28. ↑ Solberg, Egil M. (May 21, 2015). "Haxi virksomhet er lovlig". Radio Haugaland.
  29. ↑ Pedersen, Ragnhild Maria Solbakk (May 20, 2015). "Dom: Haxisjåfører frifunnet". Stavanger Tingrett.
  30. ↑ Eskeland, Stian (June 2, 2015). "Påtalemyndighetens Anke Haxi". Stavanger Police.
  31. ↑ Moe, Sigrid (June 4, 2015). "Påtalemyndigheten anker Haxi dommen". E24.
  32. ↑ Munkvik, Cornelius (February 11, 2016). "Følg Haxi-saken i Gulating lagmannsrett". Aftenbaldet.
  33. ↑ Knudsen, Eigil (February 18, 2016). "Tre Haxi-sjåfører ble frikjent i retten". tek.no.
  34. ↑ NTB (February 29, 2016). "Haxisaken ankes til Høyesterett". Dagens Næringsliv.
  35. ↑ NTB, NTB (April 5, 2016). "Høyesterett vil behandle Haxi-saken". Dagens Næringsliv.
  36. ↑ Stig Nielsen, Nicolas (June 29, 2014). "Taxibranchen: Ny samkørselstjeneste skaber pirattaxier". MX.dk.
  37. ↑ Faurfelt, Rikke (June 10, 2014). "Trafikstyrelsen politianmelder omstridt samkørselstjeneste". DR Nyhederne.
  38. ↑ http://www.trafikstyrelsen.dk/DA/Presse/Nyhedsarkiv/Erhvervstransport/2014/07/Trafikstyrelsen-politianmelder-Haxi.aspx
  39. ↑ http://www.transportnyhederne.dk/?Id=53494
  40. ↑ Thorkil-Jensen, Vibeke (March 21, 2016). "Efterforskning bliver standset". Københavns Politi.

External links

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