§ 150E.001.Definitions

Two definitions, one borrowed and one drawn in detail.

"Digital network" and "transportation network company" take their meanings from the Occupations Code chapter regulating those companies — the statute under which they are permitted and supervised in Texas.

"Network vehicle" is defined here, and it takes five cumulative criteria. The vehicle must: be available on a digital network; be a black car or other for hire, or a private passenger vehicle, pickup truck, or cargo van; be designed to operate primarily on a public road; have at least four wheels; and have seating for not more than eight passengers, including the driver.

The four-wheel requirement and the eight-seat ceiling do the sorting. Motorcycles and scooters are out at the low end; buses, shuttles and larger vans are out at the high end.

That confines the chapter to the vehicles the ridesharing model runs on, and leaves commercial passenger transport to the rules that govern it — including the commercial motor vehicle chapter, with its bifurcated trial right.

"Available on a digital network" is the first criterion and the connecting one. A vehicle is a network vehicle because of its relationship to the platform, not because of what it is; the same car is outside the chapter when it is not on the network.

"Designed to operate primarily on a public road" excludes off-road and special-purpose vehicles that might otherwise satisfy the wheel and seat criteria.