Uber’s expansion also measured the will of local governments to update antiquated transportation laws for a service that many of its own citizens desperately wanted. This was a litmus test for democracy itself, exposing whether regulators and legislators were more beholden to their own people or to powerful taxi interests and unions. The countries of continental Europe struggled with this test. They had encountered an innovative and arrogant new player out to disrupt a stagnant industry, and their impulse was to repel the upstart.
