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Massachusetts will tax ridesharing services to compensate taxis
State and city governments have been trying to protect the taxi industry from ridesharing services for a while, but Massachusetts is taking an unusual route. Its governor recently enacted a law (the first known in the US) that will charge ridesharing services a 20-cent fee for subsidizing transportation infrastructure, 5 cents of which will go to the taxi industry. Yes, every Lyft or Uber you hail will directly fund the taxis they're competing against. Officials still have to hash out the finer details, such as how they'll collect the fee and spend it, but the legislation prevents companies from tacking it on to your fare.
Lyft reportedly tried to sell to Apple, Uber and others
Apparently General Motors wasn't the only potential buyer for Lyft's ride-sharing business. According to the New York Times, the San Francisco-based company has been trying to sell itself to everyone from Apple and Google to Amazon, Uber and Didi Chuxing -- albeit without any luck. While the Times notes the company is currently sitting on $1.4 billion in cash and isn't in any danger of shutting down, the fact that Lyft couldn't find a buyer at its unicorn valuation of $5.5 billion speaks to some of the volatility left in the ride-sharing industry.
Lyft now allows you to select your pickup and dropoff locations
Lyft knows sometimes it's difficult to catch the ride you've paid for. While you're standing across the road staring at your driver and can't quite cross the street because there's no crosswalk, you're missing precious minutes of a concert or that show you're trying to reach.
GM reportedly tried to buy Lyft
General Motors is serious about gaining a foothold in the ride-sharing industry. Not only has the company established its own car-lending app and purchased the defunct Uber competitor, Sidecar -- but according to The Information, it's also been toying with the idea of buying Lyft. An interesting idea, but it isn't happening. Sources familiar with the matter say that car-hailing service has already turned GM down.
Starbucks starts selling Lyft gift cards today
Lyft is teaming up with Starbucks to offer special $20 Lyft gift cards at participating stores across the nation. Now, when you head into the coffee shop for a quick caffeine fix, you'll also be able to pick up the gift cards for friends and family. With each gift card you purchase for someone else, you'll get a kickback of a $5 Starbucks gift card as well.
Lyft app now supports multi-stop routes
Next time you share a Lyft with a friend or have to use the service to run errands, you don't need to manually adjust your destination anymore. The ridesharing app now supports multi-stop routes -- you just need to click "Add Destination" whenever you want to program more than one. Lyft says hundreds of thousands of passengers every month, usually on a Friday or a Saturday night, would manually change their stop when they need to go somewhere first. This feature would eliminate the need to do that and could help drivers plan more efficient routes. We believe that's what's called a win-win. While we're sure you won't have trouble figuring it out on your own, you can check out a short GIF of the process below the fold.
Delphi will test its self-driving taxi service in Singapore
Uber may be talking about it, but automotive technology parts supplier Delphi is doing it. Today the company announced a partnership with Singapore to start a pilot program for an on-demand autonomous taxi service.
Tesla's plan for world domination, and more in the week that was
Tesla is known for producing some of the world's best electric cars, but founder Elon Musk has even bigger plans for the company: world domination. Musk's new masterplan will grow the company to produce trucks and buses while using battery technology and solar infrastructure to transition the world away from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the world's first "Tesla Town" is coming to Australia, and every home in it will feature solar panels and a powerwall. Driverless cars are almost here: This week Mercedes-Benz unveiled the fully autonomous bus of the future, while a GM exec confirmed plans to launch a self-driving Chevy Bolt EV with Lyft. And we spotted a crazy truck that's able to lay its own road across treacherous terrain in just six minutes.
GM and Lyft's Express Drive rental service expanding further
GM and Lyft teamed up a few months ago to bring consumers Express Drive, an atypical car rental service that basically pays you to keep driving. The program is being expanded to California and Colorado, past its initial launch in Chicago and pushes in Baltimore, Washington, DC and Boston.
Lyft goes classy with new Premier service
Lyft has always played the more casual, laid-back ridesharing option to Uber's fleet of black cars and SUVs, but that vibe is about to grow up a little with today's launch of Lyft Premier. The new option, which is available now in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York City, is being billed as a "more stylish" ride for business trips or a special night out.
Chicago decides not to clamp down on ride-sharing services
As is the case in many cities around the world, the debate over regulation of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft rages on. In Chicago, the city council voted down a measure this week that would've required fingerprint background checks for drivers and maintain a certain number of vehicles that accommodate handicapped passengers. Uber has already said that fingerprinting won't help and would most likely cause them to stop offering rides in the city. The council instead plans to study fingerprints for six months before revisiting possible regulations.
Pro-Uber Austin politician sues to abolish fingerprint rule
Uber and Lyft have found a friend in Austin City Council Member Donald Zimmerman. The pro-ridesharing politician has filed a lawsuit against the mayor in an effort to overturn the rule requiring drivers to undergo fingerprint background checks. If you'll recall, ridesharing companies lost a special election in Austin held on May 7th, wherein 56 percent of voters were in favor of doing stricter background checks on drivers. According to Reuters, his lawsuit argues that the requirement's language was confusing, unlawful and did not provide enough information about the process.
Walmart is testing grocery deliveries with Uber and Lyft
Online grocery deliveries are commonplace in Europe, but America's size makes it difficult for even the largest firms to offer it nationwide. That's why Walmart is teaming up with Uber and Lyft to test a delivery service for online shoppers. All a user has to do is order their usual groceries online and a Walmart employee will gather all of it together. When ready, an Uber or Lyft will be called and dispatched to your home with a trunk full of pizza rolls, toothpaste and Kleenex.
The After Math: Buyer's remorse
You can't always get what you want, even if you pay good money for it. Disney has decided to drop its Infinity franchise and the studio that developed it. A judge ordered Lyft to double its class action payout to drivers. And Earth's atmosphere has doubled -- that's right, doubled -- in weight since we first got it. That's it, I want to talk to the manager.
Lyft agrees to double California drivers' lawsuit settlement
Lyft has more than doubled its original offer to settle the class action lawsuit its drivers filed in California in an effort to be recognized as employees. The ride-sharing service has agreed to pay them $27 million after a San Francisco District judge deemed the original settlement amount of $12.25 million a bit too small. Under the original terms, every California driver who's put in at least 30 hours for the company is only getting an average of $1,000. Lyft was compelled to hash out new and more acceptable terms with the other party to finally make the lawsuit go away.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Chicago's high-flying cable cars
When it comes to transportation, no vehicle is more futuristic than the hoverboard -- and it's getting a lot closer to reality. This week a French inventor broke a Guinness World Record by flying 7,388 feet on a hovering device. Meanwhile, Chicago is considering building a line of high-flying crystalline cable cars throughout the city. Chrysler and Google teamed up to create a self-driving minivan, while Lyft announced plans to launch self-driving electric taxis within a year. We also interviewed Lucas Toledo, who created the Gi FlyBike, a futuristic electric bicycle that folds in half in a single second.
Uber and Lyft to leave Austin after failed vote
When Uber and Lyft threatened to leave Austin if a vote over ridesharing rules didn't work in their favor, they weren't joking around. Both companies say they'll shut down their Austin operations on the morning of May 9th after 56 percent of voters rejected Proposition 1, which would have prevented the city from demanding fingerprint-based background checks as well as banning pickups in traffic lanes. The outfits contend that these measures are too much of a burden on both drivers (who'd have a harder time getting started) and passengers (who'd have to be picky about where they hail rides).
Lyft and GM will test self-driving fleet within a year
General Motors and Lyft's planned network of on-demand, self-driving taxis will begin testing in one undisclosed city sometime in the next year, the Wall Street Journal reports today. While the details of the plan are still scarce, the accelerated timeline will put a fleet of publicly available autonomous vehicles on the road ahead of either company's major rivals in Silicon Valley.
Uber makes it easier for Chinese tourists to hail a ride
To stay ahead in the ride-hailing race, Uber has teamed up with the Chinese payments service Alipay. A new partnership means passengers can now hail an Uber outside of China using the Alipay app, rather than Uber's own software. From the home screen, travelers will see an Uber option and have access to the company's regular perks, including driver information and the vehicle's estimated time of arrival. Trip fees will be charged directly to the user's Alipay account in Chinese yuan. Uber's hope is that Chinese tourists will now use its service all around the world, shunning its rivals in the US and abroad, due to their familiarity with the Alipay app.
Ford, Google and Uber form a group to push for self-driving cars
Some of the biggest names in transportation tech aren't waiting around for the US to legalize self-driving cars -- they're determined to give the government a boost. Ford, Google, Lyft, Uber and Volvo have formed the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets in a bid to have officials "realize the safety and societal benefits" of autonomous vehicles. In other words, they're going to advocate for federal laws and regulations that put self-driving technology on roads across the country.
