UCL School of Management is delighted to welcome Terry Taylor, Berkeley, to host a research seminar discussing ‘On-Demand Service Platforms: Independent Workers, Competition and Autonomous Vehicles’.​

Abstract

An on-demand service platform connects waiting-time sensitive customers with service-providing workers. This talk addresses two topics. First, a defining feature of an on-demand service platform is that the workers are independent contractors rather than employees. We examine the implications of this worker independence for the platform’s optimal decisions (e.g. prices). Second, on-demand service (e.g. ridesharing) platforms simultaneously compete for a common pool of supply (e.g. drivers) and demand (e.g. riders). We examine the implications of competition and access to autonomous vehicle technology for the management of ridesharing platforms.