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Uber has a new London rival in Taxify
In the US, Uber has an arch rival in Lyft. In the UK, however, Uber doesn't have such an obvious competitor. Sure, there's Mytaxi (formerly Hailo), Gett and Taxiapp for hailing black cabs, or Kabbee for booking minicabs, but no service that quite matches Uber blow for blow. That changes today with the London launch of Taxify -- an Uber clone that already operates in numerous cities around the world, including many in Europe. But how exactly does Taxify hope to compete with Uber, which has over 40,000 drivers roaming the capital? By giving drivers a bigger cut of the fare, and passengers a cheaper ride.
Uber hires a VP to fix its toxic company culture
Despite its incredibly high userbase, a string of controversies has led to what can only be described as a pretty terrible year for Uber. Now, just a few months after its employees left the company in droves, the successful ride-hailing company has recruited a new executive to save its sinking ship. After a former employee spoke out about sexual harassment at the company, Uber launched an investigation into its workplace culture, calling in Frances Frei, an expert on gender equality from Harvard Business School. Now, Frei has joined the successful tech startup full time, taking a role as Uber's Senior Vice President of Leadership & Strategy.
TomTom confirms new taxi-ordering service, beginning trial rollout in Amsterdam
TomTom has been continually upping its navigation game, what with its partnership with Apple in iOS 6 and the HD Traffic 6.0 upgrade and requisite Android app announced this summer. Far be it from the Dutch service to rest on its mapping laurels, though: it's now poised to take on Uber and other players in the taxi-hailing world. Last week, The Next Web reported that the company acquired the taxi-fetching app maker TXXI in an effort to roll out a TomTom cab-booking service, and today the site reports that the theory is now confirmed. Speaking with TNW, TomTom said it indeed bought TXXI to "help develop tools to support the taxi market," with initial efforts focusing on Amsterdam. Last month, the company began a trial program in that city to let restaurant and hotel guests order a taxi from a mini-kiosk called the Taxi Butler. On the cab side, there's the so-called Taxi Assistant, a TomTom-branded device which alerts drivers to incoming requests. No word on whether the company will eventually introduce mobile apps, but we'd say it's a pretty safe bet.
