Giving rides around town may be easier for Uber and Lyft after the California Department of Motor Vehicles retracted an earlier memo Friday implying that such ride-sharing services needed to carry commercial license plates.
The memo was released earlier this month, stating that commercial vehicles include "any passenger vehicle used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit," and that these cars needed to be commercially registered even if they are used only on occasion, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Drivers working for Uber, Lyft and similar services use their own cars, which are often registered as personal vehicles.
"We jumped the gun, and we shouldn't have," the California DMV said in a statement Friday, adding that "there remains uncertainty" about the effect of the law the memo describes and "recent regulatory and statutory changes affecting ride share operators."
Obtaining commercial licenses would present several issues for ride-sharing companies, just as the need for commercial insurance, which costs much more than personal auto insurance, SFGate reported.
The memo, which follows rules set by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2013, has received a great deal of criticism from Uber and Lyft, with representatives saying Friday that they don't believe part-time and occasional ride-sharing drivers should be required to have commercial plates on their cars, the LA Times reported.
"The matter requires further review and analysis which the department is undertaking immediately," the California DMV said.
