Uber have taken the startup "victory or death" model to its logical conclusion. Their whole business model only makes sense if they can drive out competition and entrench a network-effect based monopoly. As part of that, they need to make sure that they're not troubled by competition authorities.

So they've engaged in a maximally confrontational strategy. Either they win, establishing the precedent (socially if not legally) that the law doesn't apply to them and in the process becoming essential; or they lose, but in a way that ensures that competitors are similarly barred from the market.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/12/can-uber-ever-deliver...

As part of this, Uber's preference function looks something like:

Uber autonomous taxis > total ban on autonomous taxis > Tesla autonomous taxis.

(Above link is via https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2016/12/21/2181626/ubers-potenti... )