Lisbon 11 July, 2026 — New rules approved by PSD and Chega determine that ride-hailing services (TVDE) will be able to record images of the vehicle's interior (but without capturing sound) and display advertising. Taxis will be able to operate as ride-hailing services.
The TVDE vehicles will be able to record the trips, and drivers will be obliged to master the Portuguese language, according to the text of a proposal of Chega, approved this Wednesday by the PSD in the Parliamentary Commission of Infrastructure, Mobility and Housing. In addition, TVDE vehicles may have advertising, similar to what happens with taxis. According to the new rules, the limits to dynamic tariffs on TVDE also end.
With regard to safety, TVDEs will be allowed to have “optional recording inside the vehicle”. According to the proposal of Chega, approved in the specialty, “electronic platform managers can make available, through the respective platform, optional video recording functionality inside the vehicle assigned to the TVDE activity, exclusively for the safety purposes of users and drivers”.
However, the recording can only capture image, “being prohibited the capture, recording or sound treatment” and customers can opt for a trip without video recording, “without aggravation of price or penalty, except unavailability of alternative vehicle at the time of hiring, and the user can cancel the trip without penalty when he does not accept the video recording”.
The proposal also states that the electronic platform manager is the “responsible for the processing of the images captured”, and these “are encrypted and inaccessible to the electronic platform manager, the TVDE operator, the driver and the user, and can only be accessed by judicial authority, criminal police body or competent administrative authority” – and only in cases where it is necessary “for the investigation or assessment of an incident related to physical integrity”.
The use of images for the purpose of labour control, performance evaluation, commercial evaluation or other evaluation is prohibited.
Drivers will have to be proficient in Portuguese
The proposal of Chega also mentions that TVDE drivers have to “master the Portuguese language”. Lack of language mastery — especially by indostanic drivers — often motivates complaints among users.
Among the changes approved in the Assembly of the Republic is also the end of the limit to the dynamic tariff, which allows the platforms to increase the prices of travel in times of high demand.
At the proposal of the PSD, “service providers can apply dynamic tariffs” without limitation, having only to inform users. TVDEs will also be able to display advertising inside and outside the vehicles, similar to what already happens with taxis, and it is up to the Mobility and Transport Institute to determine how the new measure will be operationalized.
Another change approved in the negotiation between PSD and Chega is the possibility of taxis being able to operate as TVDE “provided that they comply with the requirements applicable to vehicles assigned to this activity and are registered with a licensed electronic platform manager”.
If they choose to operate under the TVDE regime, taxis will not be able to “collect passengers upon request on the public road, use taxi ranks or benefit, during the provision of such service, from rules of movement, stop or access reserved to the taxi service”.