The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Uber’s purchase of Autocab following a merger investigation.

Autocab operates a ride-booking cloud-based app called iGo, which allows private hire and minicab companies to offer online bookings and organise dispatches, and is reportedly used by around half of the UK market.

At the moment, Uber is only available in 40 towns and cities in the UK, so this deal will give customers access to an additional 75,000 vehicles in areas where it does not currently operate.

The investigation looked at the deal’s possible impact on the supply of booking and dispatch technology software (BDT), as well as referral networks, and any potential impact of the merger on taxi companies who are Autocab’s current BDT customers

“After thorough scrutiny, the CMA has found that there is only limited indirect competition between Uber and Autocab, and the CMA did not find evidence to indicate that Autocab was likely to become a significant and more direct competitor to Uber in the future,” said the authority.

The CMA also explored whether Autocab and Uber could try to put Autocab’s taxi company customers that compete against Uber at a disadvantage by reducing the quality of the BDT software sold to them, or by forcing them to pass on data to Uber.

But the organisation said that it found that there are other credible suppliers of BDT and referral networks that these taxi companies could switch to if Uber were to reduce the quality of the Autocab service or force them to share their data.

“Millions of people across the UK rely on taxis every day and technology has transformed the way this industry works. It is therefore important that mergers like these are properly scrutinised to ensure that customers aren’t negatively affected,” said Joel Bamford, senior director of mergers, CMA. “After a thorough investigation, the CMA has found no competition concerns as a result of this deal.”

He said that the two companies are not close competitors and that they will continue to face competition from rivals.

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