Uber is a very well-funded operation that has made innovative use of smartphone technology in the highly regulated and bureaucratic market of international taxi cab operations. The company has often adopted an aggressive approach when entering the marketplace in a given city, so the question arises as to how should the incumbent taxi trade react to such fierce competition that is popular with the public. This paper describes a literature review related to the taxi and private hire industry inLondon that provides a foundation to answer this question. A second paper will present recommendations to help organisations prepare a response to the new competition.From the collated journals, various themes emerged, and their reference lists were analysed to review recurring authors. The literature was organised into a thematic analysis grid to critique the content and analyse the implications for a project to evaluate the possible way forward for the taxi trade in response to Uber's aggressive approach. Six key themes were identified: disruptive innovation, sharing economy, business model, historical context, regulations, and labour.The literature review was extended to include studies of the same area in the United States. Caution was exercised, as the U.S. market operates different ground transportation services and regulations. Nonetheless, comparisons were drawn regarding factors that were similar.The identification of the six key themes will aid the taxi trade as well as researchers who wish to investigate the impact of Uber as and when it moves into new international markets.

This paper considers how London's private hire vehicle (PHV) industry and the regulatory authority, Transport for London, can react to Uber's well‐funded, aggressive entry into the marketplace, outlines the new challenges they face, and describes the strategic directions that are available to the PHV industry for their survival. Using a narrative enquiry, the study explores the impact from the co‐evolution of 3 megatrends (information and communication technology advancement, paradigm change, and public preferences) to understand and interpret the methods being deployed to compete, issues faced by drivers, stakeholders' perceptions of regulations, and the options for the future direction of the industry. The research concludes that the impact has been profound, with themes emerging such as passenger safety, driver employment status, sustaining operators' service levels, and regulatory changes. Moreover, there is a premise that short‐term planning is dominant, which raises concerns regarding the move towards electric and autonomous vehicles. The research also recommends practical methods for small private hire operators to review their business models in the form of a roadmap. An app is also proposed in order to aid in implementing a stakeholder engagement strategy and to manage future regulatory requirements. Finally, suggestions are made for further research to identify the future direction of London's PHV industry, considering the Mayor of London's draft transport strategy, and to clarify drivers' employment status. The paper may be useful to taxi service operators and regulators in other international cities that are faced with the disruptive nature of smartphone technology to their traditional working practices.