I’ve read though that their strategy is to get such a stranglehold on the market that the existing taxi firms are forced out of the business. So it’s more competition in the short term but then in the long term less (or no) competition, presumably at that point they hike their prices up and put the squeeze on their drivers earnings.
If the local taxis could make some improvements to pinch some of Ubers better aspects it would be ideal. I like the app and I like that you can leave reviews of the drivers, some (ok most) of Taipei’s taxi drivers drive like maniacs. And half of them don’t know where anything is.