KUALA LUMPUR: Ride hailing firm inDrive aims to rebuild trust and strengthen its Malaysia operations following compliance breaches involving driver permit requirements.
Macroregional director for Asia-Pacific Mark Tolley admitted that inDrive made errors which led to regulatory scrutiny but has improved its internal systems and is committed to implementing stronger safety and compliance measures.
“Where we are today versus three months ago is a massive leap. And where we’ll be in three, six, or 12 months will be a constant evolution,” he said at a press conference today.
Tolley admitted that the company had “learnt the hard way” and it is committed to mitigating these risks as much as possible.
“We’ve had to invest heavily into our tech and mitigation systems and we will continue to do that. Have we massively enhanced our systems? 100%,” he said.
Country lead Govin Kumaar said it has done several upgrades within its internal systems. “We have improved our driver onboarding, we are sharing real-time data with Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) in regard to this matter.
Govin emphasised that compliance is its highest priority at this point in time and it will remain compliant.
“We don’t see this as a problem going forward,” he said.
On April 24, Apad issued a notice of licence revocation to Maxim and inDrive after an audit revealed major compliance failures, particularly related to e‑hailing vehicle permit requirements.
The revocation was scheduled to take effect on July 24. Following appeals by both companies to the Ministry of Transport, the revocation was put on hold, and a three‑month probationary period, beginning July 24, was granted, allowing them to continue operating while meeting corrective conditions.
Tolley reaffirmed inDrive’s long-term commitment to Malaysia, describing it as a key regional market.
“We believe that Malaysia is one of the core grounds to continue doing that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t set up our regional hub here in KL,” he said.
Tolley said Malaysia is the right ground to have a fair and transparent peer-to-peer pricing and mobility model. “We believe we’ll bring more jobs to more people, and we’ll bring more fair, transparent mobility solutions to passengers who rely upon this every day.”
