The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has authorised a taxi industry joint venture set up to operate a taxi booking and payment app, ihail.Members of the joint venture include Cabcharge Australia, Yellow Cabs, Silver Top Taxi Service, Black and White Cabs and Suburban Taxis. Cabcharge operates taxi networks and more than 20,000 in-taxi payment terminals.The ACCC had issued a draft determination proposing to deny authorisation but the consortium made a number of modifications to its business plan. Originally, passengers had to pay through the app but now ihail will give them the choice of paying their fare in the taxi or via the app.The ACCC said it was initially concerned that, because Cabcharge was the exclusive provider of payment processing services to ihail and in the original scheme ihail passengers would only have been able to pay for fares through the app, emerging competition between Cabcharge and other providers of taxi payment services would have been dampened.The change to allow payment in the taxi means that all other payments processing providers are able to compete to provide services to ihail customers.Another change is that passengers will be able to choose their preferred taxi network or the nearest available taxi.ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement: "The app will provide an additional platform for passengers to book taxis from a large pool of taxi networks and drivers. The ACCC accepts this is likely to reduce waiting times, particularly in peak times, which is a benefit to the public."In its consideration the ACCC said the ownership structure of the app would facilitate a larger network than any other app and this competitive advantage was not the result of offering a better product.However, its view is that ihail will still face competition from other taxi booking services and ridesharing apps. Also, the app is opt-in for drivers and there is there is nothing to stop them using other booking apps.