ride sharing
Latest
India's Uber rival Ola expands into Australia
While Uber is distracted with lawsuits and a London ban, its ride-hailing rivals are expanding. First it was China's Didi arriving in Brazil and Taiwan, and now its Ola's turn. The Indian company, which shares common investors Softbank and Didi with Uber, is heading to Australia. Ola said it's started adding private hire vehicle drivers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth in its first move outside of its native India.
Uber drivers the focus of class action suit alleging sexual assault
Uber is facing yet another lawsuit, this time in response to alleged rapes two unidentified women suffered when taking an Uber. According to a report at Recode, the plaintiffs of this class action suit seek compensation for the sexual assaults as well as an injunction to force the ride-sharing company to improve its background checks.
Waymo might launch its own ride-sharing service this fall
People in select areas might be able hail Waymo's self-driving cars (with no human drivers!) as soon as this fall, according to The Information. In a piece talking about the Google spinoff's internal issues, the publication has revealed that it's gearing up to launch an autonomous ride-hailing fleet. The first self-driving vehicles in the service are even expected to start picking up passengers in Phoenix, Arizona, where Waymo has been testing its technologies, sometime this month.
Car ownership could decline thanks to Uber and Lyft
While it may seem logical that people will own fewer cars as ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber gain more traction, there hasn't been a way to study any potential effect. Then Uber and Lyft left Austin, Texas for about a year. A group of researchers from University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and Columbia University found that the presence of ride-sharing companies can change car ownership behavior, which could eventually lead to fewer personal cars in the future.
GM is beta testing a ride-hailing app for autonomous EVs
General Motors acquired Cruise Automation last year to boost its self-driving car efforts. Cruise made kits that turned Audi S4 or A4 vehicles into autonomous vehicles, and the company's know-how helped GM's plans to place more than 300 driverless cars with Lyft, a company GM has invested heavily with. Now GM is testing a beta app that lets employees in San Francisco hail an autonomous Chevy Bolt EV to anywhere in the city. According to TechCrunch, the car company claims that the new service, "Cruise Anywhere," has become the primary way some of its employees get around.
Uber board member resigns after making a sexist remark
Are you familiar with David Bonderman? If not, you might now remember him as the Uber board member who resigned because he made a sexist remark during a meeting meant to address the company's toxic, misogynistic culture. At the meeting, board member Ariana Huffington said that one woman on the board often leads to another, and Bonderman apparently replied that "it's much more likely to be more talking." He apologized after seeing his fellow board members' horrified reactions but ultimately decided to leave as he does "not want [his] comments to create distraction."
Uber must leave Italy in 10 days after nationwide ban
Trouble seems to follow Uber wherever it goes. A court in Rome has just banned the ride-hailing service in Italy for contributing to what it says is "unfair competition" faced by the local taxi industry. Uber must now stop promoting its services and cease all operations in the country within 10 days, unless it's willing to pay a $10,600 fine for each day it remains active after that grace period. While Uber's $70 billion valuation makes that amount sound like chump change, it hasn't exactly been profitable and actually bled billions in 2016.
Lyft's biggest rollout takes it to 50 new cities
Lyft has just announced its biggest expansion to date. The ride-sharing service is now available in over 50 new cities and four new states across the US. They're mostly located in the Midwest, but the list also includes a few other parts of the country. This rollout follows another expansion last month that brought the service to over 40 new locations -- in all, Lyft now operates in over 300 cities in the United States.
Lyft is doing great despite losing hundreds of millions in 2016
Lyft lost a lot of money last year, but it's doing better than ever. The ride-hailing company doesn't disclose its earnings, but according to The Information, it lost around $600 million in 2016 after generating $700 million in revenue. Sure, that loss is no joke, but its $700 million revenue is 250 percent higher than the $200.6 million the service generated in 2015. That's when it also also lost $412 million, which is twice the money it made. No wonder a spokesperson told the publication that they "have never been more optimistic about [their] future."
Uber and Lyft answer concerns about discrimination
A study published earlier this year documenting the discrimination ride-hailing passengers face compelled Senator Al Franken to call Uber's and Lyft's attention. Now, the Senator's office has published the companies' responses to the letter he sent on November 2nd. While it sounds like both services are already making changes, both stand by their practices. The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed 1,500 rides in Boston and Seattle. It found that riders with black-sounding names usually have to wait 35 percent longer to be picked up and are twice more likely to have their ride canceled.
Tesla won't let its cars autonomously drive for Uber or Lyft
Yesterday, Tesla announced that every new car rolling off their assembly lines from now onward will come equipped with all the hardware needed for fully autonomous driving. But deep in the release notes lies a new commandment from the electric vehicle producers: You can't use the self-driving feature to make money ferrying people with Uber, Lyft or any other service besides Tesla's own Network.
Uber is quietly rolling out flat rates for riders in select cities
Uber is testing out a new pricing plan that could make using the service as cheap as paying bus fare in a city like San Francisco.
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.
Ride-hailing apps like Uber will be legal in China soon
Considering how much business Uber does in China, it's kind of hard to imagine that ride-hailing apps aren't exactly legal in the country. Well, they weren't, but they're about to be. Chinese regulators have passed a new law that clears up the legal grey area companies like Uber and Didi Chuxing operate in. Starting on November 1st, ride-hailing apps will be legal, so long as they follow a few rules.
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.
Uber affirms tipping drivers 'is not expected or required'
In most parts of the world, tipping for certain services has been a long-standing tradition. Still, Uber made sure that was never the case between its riders and drivers, unless a yellow taxi was involved. But after a recent $100 million class-action settlement in the US, speculation grew that Uber would start encouraging tips. Not so fast. Today, in a Medium post and an email sent to users, Uber clarified that tipping isn't expected or required, citing a hassle-free experience as to why it doesn't give riders the option to add a tip to their fares.
GM and Lyft team up to create self-driving vehicle network
Lyft and General Motors may be runners-up in their respective industries, but a partnership between the two could significantly boost both driverless vehicles and ride-sharing tech. The companies announced a joint venture to develop a network of autonomous cars, a first for a ride-sharing company and automaker. In the short-term, GM will provide vehicle rentals and its OnStar network to Lyft drivers, while Lyft will offer perks to GM drivers, presumably via trips for vehicle owners. In the long term, however, the companies plan to develop "a network of on-demand autonomous vehicles" developed by GM that might one day pick you up from the curb.
Sidecar shuts down rides and deliveries ahead of new year
It's tough to be the third choice when someone is looking for a ride home. Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul announced that the ride-hailing and delivery business would shut down at 2pm PT on December 31.
California OKs insurance plans made specifically for Lyft
According to California law, the rules governing legal liability for ride-sharing services can get pretty tricky, depending on whether the passenger is waiting to be picked up, is getting into the cab or is currently en route to their destination. What's more, the law doesn't currently really specify which insurance -- either the company's or the driver's -- is to be used, only that a driver must be "fully insured" at all times. But thanks to a recent ruling by California's insurance commissioner, Lyft drivers themselves (and their Ubering counterparts) will now be covered from the time their patrons request a pickup through dropoff.
ICYMI: Internet aircraft, Uber retiree drivers and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-725255{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-725255, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-725255{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-725255").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Facebook just built an aircraft that can stay aloft over areas without internet, beaming it down for free. Uber is announcing a partnership with AARP in an effort to get more part-time drivers from the retiree crowd. (We helpfully provided a CDC stat about fatal car accidents because we love you.) And NASA engineers are designing drones to explore areas of planets that rovers can't get to.
