There have been many cases where taxi companies also offer replacement driver services since long ago in local regions; however, due to diversification of the taxi business as well as the law revision in 2004, in which only persons who have Class II driver license can carry out replacement driver services as taxi operations (the law itself became effective in 2002, but mandatory operation with Class II driver license was actually started two years later), taxi companies that have started offering replacement driver services have been increasing more and more.
タクシー事業者が運転代行業を兼業する例は古くから地方で数多く存在するが、タクシー事業の多角化に加えて、2004年の法改正によりタクシー同様第二種運転免許を取得した者でなければ代行運転に従事できなくなった（法律自体は2002年に施行されたが、二種免許義務化は2年間の猶予期間が設けられていた）ため、運転代行業に参入するタクシー事業者がさらに急増している。