Thailand Proposes Allowing Corporate Fleets To Register Electronic Ride-Hailing Vehicles

On May 26, 2026, Thailand’s Department of Land Transport (DLT) published for public consultation a draft amendment to the Ministerial Regulation on Electronic Ride-Hailing Vehicles that would, for the first time, allow juristic persons (legal entities) to register vehicles as electronic ride-hailing cars—a right that currently belongs exclusively to natural persons, limited to one person per one vehicle. If finalized in its current form, the regulation would significantly expand the supply side of Thailand’s ride-hailing market by enabling corporate fleet operators to enter the space. The public comment period is open through June 24, 2026.

Key Principles Under the Draft Regulation

Under the proposed amendment, juristic persons that maintain a fleet of at least 50 vehicles will be permitted to register vehicles as electronic ride-hailing cars. This represents a fundamental shift from the current framework, which restricts registration to individual natural persons on a one-person-one-car basis.

Vehicle Specifications

Corporate-owned ride-hailing vehicles must meet the following requirements:

• Be brand new from the factory, or no more than two years old from first registration with no more than 20,000 km of use.
• Not be a vehicle that has been reconstructed or repaired after involvement in a serious accident affecting safety—a standard consistent with public transport vehicles (RorYor. 6).
• Be classified as small, medium, or large in accordance with ministerial or director-general specifications.

The vehicles may be equipped with safety devices such as interior or exterior cameras (video/photo recording) and can retain the original factory color of the vehicle body (no mandatory color change is required).

License Plates

Corporate ride-hailing vehicles will use license plates of the same size, characteristics, and color as those for private passenger vehicles not exceeding seven seats (RorYor. 1), rather than public transport plates.

Potential Impact

The government has stated that the regulation is intended to:

• Promote employment opportunities for ride-hailing drivers who can rent vehicles from corporate fleet operators instead of owning their own.
• Ensure a sufficient supply of ride-hailing vehicles to meet user demand.
• Stimulate the national economy through expanded ride-hailing services.

Under the proposed amendment, ride-hailing platforms would be able to partner with or establish corporate fleet entities to scale supply, overcoming the one-person-one-car bottleneck. However, the 50-vehicle minimum would likely require platforms to facilitate fleet aggregation or work with established operators.

The regulation would also create a new business model allowing existing corporate fleet operators to register fleets for the ride-hailing market and lease them to drivers. Significant capital investment and ongoing compliance monitoring would be necessary to meet the 50-vehicle minimum and requirement for new or near-new vehicles with limited mileage.

Next Steps

Affected stakeholders, particularly juristic persons interested in registering electronic ride-hailing vehicles, ride-hailing platform operators, and fleet leasing companies, should assess the potential impact of the draft regulation on their operations, and consider submitting comments during the public hearing period, which runs through June 24, 2026.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.