The LegalRideshare Podcast: Recent Episodes
LegalRideshare
LegalRideshare's co-founder & lead attorney Bryant Greening talks with Jared Hoffa about gig worker related news, issues and events that happened during the week.
LegalRideshare was launched nearly a decade ago after Uber and Lyft drivers messaged attorney Bryant Greening with questions about accidents and didn't know where to turn. To understand this new industry, Bryant signed up to become an Uber driver to step into his clients' shoes.
Fast forward to today, LegalRideshare is entirely focused on gig worker accident and injury cases. We've served thousands of clients around the country and secured millions for drivers and gig workers.
Questions? Concerns? Free consultations at LegalRideshare.com
In this episode of This Week in Rideshare (TWIR), host Jared Hoffa and the LegalRideshare team break down the latest news affecting drivers and gig workers nationwide—from new driver reports and Philadelphia rideshare developments to expanding in-car surveillance tech. Industry Reports & Data: What recent industry reports reveal about driver earnings, platform transparency, and gig economy trends. ️ Philadelphia (Philly) Rideshare Updates: Local legislative shifts, driver safety concerns, and news impacting gig workers in Philly. Surveillance & In-Car Safety Tech: How expanded camera monitoring, driver surveillance, and privacy concerns are changing the way drivers operate behind the wheel. Have you been injured in a rideshare, delivery, or gig worker accident? Don't tackle insurance companies or corporate platforms alone. Call us for a FREE consultation: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, and gig worker accidents and injuries. We protect the rights of the people who keep our cities moving.
In this episode of This Week in Rideshare (TWIR), host Jared Hoffa is joined by LegalRideshare co-founder and lead attorney Bryant Greening to break down major industry shifts impacting drivers, gig workers, and the future of autonomous transit [00:55]! [02:21] - Uber Layoffs & AI Integration: Uber slashes 10% of its customer support staff while doubling down on artificial intelligence—what this means for driver support and deactivations [02:21]. [06:50] - DoorDash Commercial Drones: DoorDash gets FAA approval to launch commercial drone delivery services—are delivery drivers facing long-term replacement [06:50]? [01:00:58] - Waymo & Uber Call It Quits: Waymo officially announces its exit from the Uber robotaxi partnership to build out its standalone app—why the two tech giants are filing for "divorce" [01:00:58]. Injured in a rideshare, delivery, or gig worker accident? Don't tackle insurance companies alone [01:16:14]. Call for a FREE Consultation: (312) 767-7950 Visit LegalRideshare: https://www.legalrideshare.com [01:16:14] Email: help@legalrideshare.com ------ LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the nation focused exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, and gig worker accidents and injuries. We fight for the rights of drivers, passengers, and couriers nationwide. #LegalRideshare #ThisWeekInRideshare #Uber #DoorDash #Waymo #GigEconomy #RideshareNews #DeliveryDrivers #Robotaxi #TWIR
The rules of the road for gig workers in Illinois just got an upgrade. A new policy has officially passed, and if you rely on an e-bike for DoorDash, Uber Eats, or other delivery services, these changes directly impact your wallet, your safety, and your ability to work.
In this week's episode of This Week In Rideshare, we break down exactly what the new Illinois e-bike law means for you.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Different prices for the same ride, Uber expands background checks and the end of an era. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
SAME RIDE — DIFFERENT PRICESWhy does the same ride cost different prices? Consumer Reports reported:
Uber and Lyft, the two most popular ride-hailing companies in the U.S., routinely charge different customers significantly different prices for the same rides, a monthslong Consumer Reports investigation has found. Across the routes we tested, the median difference between the lowest and highest price groupings was 42.4 percent.
Uber and Lyft deny that they engage in any fictitious pricing, attributing our findings to real-time marketplace conditions.
But the pricing practices observed in our Uber and Lyft tests are different from dynamic or surge pricing. Because our volunteers booked identical rides at roughly the same time, the dramatic price differences we saw can't be explained away purely by the economics of supply and demand.
There's a simple reason companies like to offer different prices to different customers for the same thing: It enables them to increase sales and profits.
UBER DRIVER BACKGROUND CHECKSUber is ramping up background checks. Bloomberg reported:
Uber is tightening driver background checks in the US and applying the new standards retroactively to existing workers, the company's latest response to a wave of sexual-assault lawsuits brought by passengers.
Starting Monday, Uber is expanding the number of criminal convictions that will disqualify a driver or courier from working on its platform, regardless of when the crime occurred, a spokesperson said Friday. The policy will lead to the removal of tens of thousands of existing gig workers, or about 0.5% of the active force in the US, according to the company. Uber had 10 million drivers and couriers worldwide as of April.
UBER/WAYMO END PHONEIX PARTNERSHIPIt's the end of an era for Uber and Waymo. Reuters reported:
Uber and Alphabet's Waymo have ended their self-driving partnership in Phoenix, Arizona, as the ride-hailing giant prepares to launch a new autonomous vehicle collaboration in the city.
“Phoenix was our first pilot market with Waymo and was an intentionally limited deployment, reaching just over a dozen vehicles dedicated to the program,” an Uber spokesperson said.
Uber said it is readying the launch of a separate autonomous vehicle partnership in Phoenix, but did not name the new partner.
The end of the partnership follows Waymo's recall of nearly 3,900 robotaxis in the U.S. because a software issue could cause the vehicles to enter a closed freeway construction zone and continue driving.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
E-bikes need insurance, Uber sues over deactivations and Waymo does more recalls. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
E-BIKES NEED INSURANCEE-bikes will now need insurance. Chicago Tribune reported:
Under the laws, riders of e-motos and e-bikes capable of speeds greater than 28 mph would be required to obtain a driver's license, title, registration and insurance. Those devices also would be prohibited from using sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and bike paths.
The bill also establishes age requirements for riders of low-speed devices while maintaining the current Class 1, 2 and 3 framework for low-speed electric bicycles.
The legislation was advocated by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office said micromobility-related injuries and fatalities increased 300 percent nationwide between 2019 and 2022.
“This legislation brings clarity, accountability and common-sense protections to our roads, sidewalks, bike paths and bike lanes while ensuring Illinois keeps pace with rapidly evolving transportation technology,” Giannoulias said in a statement. “By passing this bill, we are helping prevent serious injuries, protecting pedestrians and riders, and creating uniform statewide standards that prioritize public safety.”
UBER SUES OVER DEACTIVATIONSUber is suing over deactivations. Bloomberg Law reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. sued New York City alleging a recently enacted law that seeks to protect drivers from “wrongful deactivations” violates its constitutional rights.
Local Law 52 of New York City of 2026, which becomes effective July 28, would force Uber to keep drivers on its platform even if the ride-share giant has determined that they have violated its standards, agreements, and policies, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Uber seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction to block the law.
If the law takes effect, “it will permanently impair Uber's contracts, compel the communication and disclosure of sensitive and protected information that Uber would not otherwise provide, force at least temporary association with drivers whom Uber would otherwise deactivate, subject Uber to an unfair and lopsided adjudicative process, and potentially lead to reputational harm and a loss of business and goodwill,” the lawsuit said.
WAYMO RECALLS OVER FREEWAY CONSTRUCTIONWaymos is recalling over 3000 robotaxis. Wired reported:
Waymo has filed its fourth safety recall since February 2024, after its driverless cars were caught entering closed freeway-construction zones.
The recall, filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on June 17, appears to affect Waymo's entire US fleet, covering 3,871 vehicles running Waymo's 5th Generation automated driving system (ADS).
NHTSA estimates 100 precent of the affected units carry the defect, which is outlined in the filed safety recall report as “under certain circumstances, the AV may enter and drive at speed in freeway-construction zones due to inappropriately prioritizing the avoidance of other freeway hazards and/or failing to recognize the construction zone.”
Waymo started offering highway rides in late 2025, and the underlying problem appears to be a failure of priority logic. According to the NHTSA filing, the ADS sometimes failed to recognize construction zones, and in other cases actively chose to drive through them because it was busy avoiding other hazards on the freeway. Both conditions can produce the same outcome: a driverless car at highway speed moving through a closed work zone.
The events that triggered the recall apparently began earlier this year. On April 11 and 19, Waymo vehicles in Phoenix drove past ramp closure signs into preplanned construction zones. Waymo's Field Safety Committee responded by restricting freeway operations.
Then, on May 18, seven Waymo vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area drove between construction cones into active lane closures. Though no collisions or injuries were reported from these events, it was this second cluster that prompted a broader freeway ban by the company. Waymo's Safety Board reviewed the issue on June 1, and on June 8 decided to issue a formal recall.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber caps spending, Uber also cuts jobs and a waitlist for robotaxis. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER CAPS AI SPENDINGUber is capping AI usage. Bloomberg reported:
The rideshare giant is limiting all employees to $1,500 in monthly token spending per AI coding tool, an Uber spokesperson said in response to a Bloomberg News inquiry. That means spending on one tool doesn't have a bearing on the budget for another. The limits, which have been instituted in recent months, only apply to agentic coding software such as Cursor or Anthropic PBC's Claude Code.
The limits, which have not been reported, come in response to Uber's growing embrace of AI tools internally. Chief Technology Officer Praveen Neppalli Naga told the Information in April that the company had already maxed out its full-year AI budget. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said last month that about 10% of the company's code was submitted and built by AI agents, and that the legal and marketing teams have seen an uptick in usage.
Beyond Uber, other companies in different sectors are toeing a line between “tokenmaxxing” — maximizing AI usage for a productivity boost — while trying to rein in associated costs. Walmart Inc. has capped staffers' use of an in-house AI agent that helps with workplace tasks, according to people familiar with the decision.
UBER CUTS JOBSUber is slashing jobs. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. said it is cutting 23% of jobs in a division that includes human resources, recruitment, workplace facilities and culture, part of a move by the rideshare company's newly promoted president Jill Hazelbaker to simplify team structure.
The cuts to the People and Places division, many of which are senior roles, represent less than 1% of Uber's 34,000 employees around the world, according to a company spokesperson. Its approximately 10 million drivers are mostly classified separately as independent contractors.
HR employees who had previously been approved to work remotely are also being asked to return to the office to comply with a three-day-a-week office mandate that went into effect last June.
Uber has differed from other tech companies conducting mass layoffs in the name of AI-driven investment and efficiencies, instead cutting in a more targeted way to trim costs. It's still hiring for more than 800 roles, including for commercializing robotaxis. It said last month that it would slow hiring due to internal use of AI.
UBER CREATES A WAITLISTUber is creating a waitlist for its robotaxis. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. has set up a waitlist for customers interested in riding in a robotaxi in London, ahead of a planned commercial debut in the UK this year.
Customers in the UK can join an “interest list” in the Uber app starting Monday to indicate their preference and increase their chances of being matched with a Wayve Technologies Ltd. robotaxi when the service begins, Uber said in a statement. The ride-hailing company didn't disclose a timeline for the launch.
Like the Uber app in Austin and Atlanta, where the company works with Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo to offer driverless rides, customers in London will have the option to accept a driverless vehicle or switch to a human-driven ride.
While Waymo has been in the lead in expanding across the US, other companies are accelerating robotaxi rollouts globally. Uber has partnered with more than a dozen technology and vehicle partners, including China's WeRide Inc. and Pony AI Inc., to offer driverless rides on its app in the Middle East and parts of Europe.
The upcoming launch would mark Wayve's first passenger service after tests across Europe, North America and Japan in recent years. In February, it raised $1.5 billion from investors including Eclipse Ventures LLC, Balderton Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Uber at a $8.6 billion valuation.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
DRIVERS FORM FIRST UNION IN MASS.Uber and Lyft drivers have formed the first rideshare union. Reuters reported:
The newly formed App Drivers Union received certification, opens new tab from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations on Friday to represent nearly 70,000 ride-share drivers operating as independent contractors in the state.
That vote followed a years-long, nationwide battle over whether ride-share drivers should be considered independent contractors or employees entitled to benefits and wage protections.
Drivers for Uber and Lyft do not have the right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act, a federal law that covers only traditional employees.
But under the state law, drivers could form a union after collecting signatures from at least 25% of active drivers in Massachusetts — a condition that was met by union supporters. The union is backed by 32BJ SEIU, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
“The workers who built these billion-dollar corporations deserve a union contract and a seat at the table,” IAM President Brian Bryant said at Tuesday's rally.
UBER IS “TOKENMAXXING”Uber is burning through tokens. Business Insider reported:
In a Rapid Response interview released on Saturday, Uber's operations chief, Andrew Macdonald, said it was becoming harder to justify AI costs within the company.
He said that Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga went viral after telling The Information in an April interview that Uber had already blown through its Claude Code budget for 2026.
He said that, based on talks with Uber's senior engineering leaders, he realized higher token usage did not translate into a proportional increase in useful consumer features.
He said that the trade-off costs from AI are harder to justify because he can't draw a direct link. Earlier this month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call that Uber was slowing hiring to counter its investments in AI.
WAYMO RIDE ENDS EARLYA Waymo ride ended early and promotes Uber. Business Insider reported:
That is roughly how far Schwartz said he was from his hotel in downtown San Francisco when the Waymo taxi he and his wife were riding in suddenly stopped and refused to move. The couple visited the city earlier this month.
As Schwartz tried to figure out what was going on in a conversation with Waymo support, the employee on the phone said that there was a “huge blockage” preventing the car from reaching his hotel. Then, the employee told Schwartz: “You can request another ride, probably Uber or Lyft,” according to a video Schwartz posted on LinkedIn.
A Waymo spokesperson said that the car was halted because of a “restriction placed after our operations team learned of planned protest activity.” The spokesperson did not respond when asked what protest was taking place.
Waymo suggests other transportation options when cars cannot reach a passenger's destination, the company said.
“We're looking into this further to see how we could have better served the rider in this case, in addition to providing a refund,” the spokesperson said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this update, we dive into the latest shakeups in the gig economy and autonomous vehicle space. We discuss Airbnb's unexpected move into the car rental market, what's behind Waymo's decision to stop service in Atlanta, and Uber's major move to bring autonomous vehicles back to its platform. Topics covered in this video: • Airbnb adding car rentals to its platform • Waymo suspending its autonomous services in Atlanta • Uber reintroducing self-driving vehicles to the road Stay informed and protect yourself on the road. If you've been in an accident while driving for Uber, Lyft, or delivering for gig apps, we have your back. https://LegalRideshare.com Hashtags: #LegalRideshare #RideshareNews #Uber #Waymo #Airbnb #GigEconomy #RideshareDriver #AutonomousVehicles #UberDriver #SelfDrivingCars
WAYMO RECALLS 3800 ROBOTAXISPress enter or click to view image in full sizeWaymo is recalling 3800 robotaxis. CNBC reported:
Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company's fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas were recently seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. Similar incidents have occurred in other locations, the latest safety-related issues for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that's rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it's “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
UBER VS WAYMOPress enter or click to view image in full sizeUber takes shots at Waymo. Business Insider reported:
In recent months, Uber and its executives have taken direct and indirect shots at its robotaxi partner Waymo, warning against autonomous vehicle operators trying to scale on their own while also criticizing Waymo's deployment strategy and technology, with one executive sharing a video on X of a “scary Waymo moment.”
The comments portray AV-only operators like Alphabet's Waymo as less scalable, less equitable, and less reliable than a hybrid approach — with a mix of human and automated drivers — that makes Uber the AV partner of choice.
Taken together, Uber's statements show the delicate role it's trying to play as an arbiter between two competing forces: cities and labor groups skeptical of driverless fleets, and AV companies seeking to usher in a new era of transportation.
“Despite the incredible progress AVs are making around the world, and the enormous potential they hold, they are still far from capable of meeting the level of reliability and ubiquity that customers and cities expect,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in February, adding that the AV operators' limits “only serve to reinforce the value of a hybrid network.”
UBER EATS ROBOTS EXPAND IN PHILLYPress enter or click to view image in full sizeMore robots are coming to Philly. Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Uber Eats has expanded its autonomous robot delivery service to all restaurants within its designated operation zone in Center City, six restaurants on the platform told The Inquirer.
The food delivery service rolled out a small fleet of battery-powered bots in March, with about two dozen restaurants signing up for the pilot. But in recent weeks, restaurateurs who, like Seorabol owner Eunice Cho, do not remember signing up for the program have been instructed by the Uber Eats app to go outside and place orders inside a blinking bot.
Alex Lin, chef at Chinese and Japanese restaurant Green Garden, said he started seeing bots picking up orders as early as April despite not having opted in to any programs. Mira Kim, owner of Koreana, said the same, noting sometimes she would see one bot pickup in a day or as many as five.
Uber Eats said as part of its pilot, the fleet of autonomous delivery robots would operate within the area bound by Race, Spruce, 18th, and Front Streets. The plan was to eventually add more restaurants in coming months, though the expansion appears to have taken place in a matter of weeks, according to restaurants.
The company has emphasized in previous statements that the robots, manufactured by Avride, are not meant to replace humans. The robots can operate up to a two-mile radius, keeping a charge for up to 12 hours. In Philadelphia, the 12th city where the Uber Eats bots have been deployed, they are allowed to operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber leans on OpenAI, China puts the breaks on robotaxis and DoorDash offers relief. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER USES OPENAIUber is using OpenAI to “help people”. From Uber:
Uber has long used machine learning to support its marketplace. And now, with the benefit of large language models and OpenAI frontier models, Uber can reason across complex signals more quickly, deliver fast conversational responses, and power voice experiences inside the app.
The collaboration between Uber and OpenAI is helping Uber build AI-powered products that simplify earning opportunities for drivers and couriers and reduce friction for riders. And using OpenAI's models, Uber can ship streamlined products and experiences faster than ever.
For drivers, flexibility is one of Uber's biggest strengths. Some drive full-time, others just on weekends, while some drive between classes or shifts. This flexibility also means drivers are constantly evaluating options and asking questions: Where should I position myself right now? Is the airport worth driving to? Should I switch from rides to deliveries during lunch? Why did my earnings look different today?
To help answer those questions, Uber developed Uber Assistant, an AI-powered assistant designed to help drivers throughout their lifecycle on the platform — from onboarding and first trips to day-to-day earnings optimization.
CHINA STOPS ROBOTAXI LICENSESChina has put the breaks on robotaxi licenses. Fortune reported:
On March 31, over a hundred of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis simultaneously froze on the streets of Wuhan. Vehicles stalled on overpasses and elevated roads, trapping passengers for up to two hours.
A few weeks later, Beijing suspended all new autonomous driving permits nationwide. The suspension suspension blocked robotaxi companies from adding to their fleets, starting new tests, or expanding to additional cities, according to Bloomberg.
In the U.S., meanwhile, some autonomous vehicles are driving into street lights and even into the middle of ongoing crime scenes. In just one month in Austin, Tesla's robotaxis crashed into a fixed object head on and in reverse, while also hitting trees, poles, buses and trucks. Waymo's robotaxis are incapable of closing their own doors — and the company has taken to hiring DoorDashers to door dash and close the doors after a passenger gets out. In October 2023, a Cruise AV dragged a pedestrian 20 feet.
The U.S. has no federal autonomous vehicle safety law. The SELF DRIVE Act of 2026, a bipartisan House bill, would create the first statute, yet it remains a draft. Earlier versions in 2017 and 2021 died without passage.
DOORDASH TO SPEND $50M ON GAS PRICE RELIEFDoorDash is spending over $50M to help with gas prices. AP News reported:
The San Francisco-based company said in March that it would offer extra compensation to U.S. and Canadian drivers as part of a temporary program to offset a sharp increase in gas prices due to the Iran war. The national average for a gallon of gas on Wednesday was $4.53, up 44% from a year ago, according to AAA.
The company said it's paying for gas price relief by adjusting investments in other areas. DoorDash said in November that it would be spending heavily on new products and services this year, including the addition of restaurant reservations in its app and robot deliveries.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this episode of This Week In Rideshare, Jared Hoffa is behind the wheel breaking down the massive challenges facing gig workers this week. With US fuel prices surging to a record average of nearly $3 a gallon, Uber and Lyft's so-called "support" programs are being called a slap in the face by drivers who are losing money on every ride. We also dive into the growing concerns surrounding autonomous vehicles. Emergency responders are speaking out about Waymo's increasingly dangerous performance, citing frozen vehicles and traffic violations that are actively hindering police and firefighters. Finally, we look at the blurring lines between gig apps as Uber partners with Expedia to add hotel bookings to its platform, signaling a major shift in the tech industry. Have you been injured in an Uber, Lyft, or delivery accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us for a FREE consultation: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States dedicated entirely to Uber®, Lyft®, and gig economy injury claims. We've helped thousands of gig workers protect their rights and recover millions.
What happens when the promises of Prop 22 fall short? In this episode of This Week in Rideshare, LegalRideshare breaks down the latest lawsuit against Uber in California. Drivers are suing the rideshare giant for failing to provide a proper appeals process for unfair deactivations, leaving many gig workers high and dry without due process. Plus, is Airbnb entering the rideshare game? We discuss Airbnb's new partnership to offer private airport pickups and what this "hotel-like" service could mean for the future of the transportation industry. Finally, we look at the latest autonomous vehicle chaos as Waymo robotaxis go viral for blocking traffic and causing a massive standstill at an intersection in Atlanta. Have you been injured in a rideshare, delivery, or Waymo accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this episode of This Week in Rideshare, LegalRideshare breaks down why you should never ignore a "minor" injury after an Uber or Lyft accident. From soft tissue damage to hidden strains, we explain how even seemingly small accidents can cause major pain and serious disruptions to your daily life and income. Attorney Bryant Greening explains how rideshare insurance companies try to classify claims as "minor" or "soft tissue" to severely underpay injured victims. Learn exactly why seeking immediate medical attention is crucial for both your physical health and your injury claim, and find out how you can recover compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Have you been injured in a rideshare or delivery accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free. #UberAccident #LegalRideshare #PersonalInjury #UberDriver #LyftAccident #RideshareLawyer #SoftTissueInjury #CarCrash #GigEconomy
Uber dumps $1 Billion into robotaxis, DoorDash's new tasks and payouts take a turn. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER INVESTS $1.25B IN ROBOTAXISUber dumps major cash into Rivian. Bloomberg news reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. plans to invest as much as $1.25 billion in carmaker Rivian Automotive Inc. to help launch a robotaxi fleet that will be available in the US, Canada and Europe over the next five years.
Uber or its fleet partners will buy 10,000 autonomous Rivian R2 robotaxis and make them available exclusively on the Uber app starting in San Francisco and Miami in 2028, the two companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.
As part of the partnership, Uber has committed to an initial $300 million investment in Rivian, subject to regulatory approval. The funding may increase to as much as $1.25 billion through 2031 if certain undisclosed “autonomous milestones” are met, the companies said. They also have the option to negotiate the purchase of as many as 40,000 more Rivian robotaxis beginning in 2030.
DOORDASH'S NEW TASKS TRAIN AIDoorDash is using human tasks to train AI. Bloomberg reported:
DoorDash Inc. is paying delivery couriers in some markets to submit video clips and complete other digital tasks to help improve artificial intelligence and robotics models, following competitors that have found creative new uses for gig workers in the AI boom.
The delivery company has launched a new app called Tasks for those efforts, listing paid opportunities for activities such as recording an unscripted conversation in Spanish, or filming themselves completing various household chores like loading a dishwasher, handwashing dishes or folding clothes.
UBER-BALLOT SPARKS CRASH PAYOUT DEBATEUber is looking to throttle crash payouts. Axios reported:
It would cap lawyers' fees in winning cases, so accident victims keep at least 75% of any settlement. (Lawyers typically take about a third in personal injury cases, per legal scholars.)
It'd also limit medical cost reimbursement for accident victims.
What they're saying: While the initiative might sound good on paper, Jamie Court of the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog called it a “Trojan horse.”
Lower fees would discourage lawyers from taking complex or costly cases and leave many victims without representation, especially when most families already can't afford to pay hourly rates, he told Axios.
Court also argued that the reimbursement cap is far lower than hospitals' actual charges, potentially leaving patients covering the gap out of pocket or struggling to access care.
That's a dangerous prospect, the nonprofit claims, arguing the measure could limit the legal consequences for other companies.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
UBER EXPANDS FEMALE DRIVERSUber is expanding its female drivers. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. said that a feature designed to match female riders and drivers will be available nationwide, expanding access to a safety measure as it seeks to resolve thousands of sexual assault complaints from passengers in the US.
The option will be available in markets like New York, Philadelphia and DC, following a pilot and subsequent launches in more than two dozen other US cities last year, the company said in a statement Monday. Riders will see a new on-demand booking option called “Women Drivers” alongside the existing UberX, Comfort, UberXL and Black offerings. Customers can reserve such a trip in advance, or set their preference in the app settings to increase the likelihood of being matched with a woman. The feature is also offered in cities where teen accounts are available.
The move comes as Uber is fighting thousands of pending legal cases in the US that question if the company is responsible for the misconduct of drivers, who are classified as contractors rather than employees. In February, a jury returned a verdict that found Uber liable for not preventing an alleged sexual assault of a female passenger, who claimed that she was raped by her driver in Arizona in 2023. The company was ordered to pay $8.5 million in damages, raising its risk of a costly settlement to resolve other cases.
GRUBHUB TESTS FOOD DRONESGrubhub is testing food delivery via drones. Bloomberg reported:
Customers must be located within 2.5 miles of Grubhub parent Wonder Group Inc.'s restaurant location in suburban Green Brook, New Jersey. Items must also weigh under four pounds. After placing an order through the Grubhub app, users will see real-time GPS tracking, estimated arrival notifications and order confirmations.
It aims to complete drone deliveries 5 to 8 minutes after the food is loaded into the autonomous carrier, and within 30 minutes after the order is placed, PJ Poykayil, senior vice president of customer delivery operations at Wonder and Grubhub, said in an interview.
SERVICE DOG SPARKS NATIONAL DEBATEA service dog sparked a national debate. ABC new reported:
College student Tori Andres turned to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights after several Lyft drivers refused to let her service dog, Alfred, ride along with her. The agency investigated and determined that the company was violating the state's Human Rights Act. Both sides then negotiated a settlement that includes changes in driver training, and updates to the Lyft app that will make the agreement apply nationwide, not just in Minnesota.
The terms require Lyft to train its drivers on the rights of passengers with disabilities, and warn them that they could be “deactivated” and lose their ability to drive for Lyft if they violate the law, state Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero told reporters. Drivers can't cancel or refuse a ride because a passenger has a service animal or wheelchair, or because they have low or no vision, she said. The state will monitor Lyft's compliance for three years, she added, and Andres will get a $63,000 monetary settlement.
Changes to the Lyft app include giving riders the option of updating their accessibility settings to notify a driver that they're traveling with a service animal, and to report if they're denied service. Some of those features were already in place. Lyft agreed to follow up on every report it gets of driver refusals.
Drivers who try to cancel or refuse a ride to a passenger who has disclosed their service animal in the app will immediately receive an in-app message reminding them, “It's against the law to refuse service animals,” and that they risk getting fired.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this episode of This Week in Rideshare, LegalRideshare breaks down the biggest news hitting the gig economy. Uber is reportedly testing a new global subscription model for drivers—but will it actually boost your earnings or just change how the platform takes its cut? We dive into the financials of rising Uber ride costs and what it means for your bottom line.
Plus, we cover the alarming string of recent Waymo robotaxi errors. From autonomous vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses in Texas to veering into oncoming traffic in California, we discuss the safety regulations and legal questions surrounding driverless cars.
Have you been injured in a rideshare or robotaxi accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The Arrival of Robotaxis in Chicago
- Expansion to the Midwest: Waymo is currently mapping Chicago, signaling that robotaxis are officially hitting the Midwest [00:57].
- Public Sentiment: * Passengers generally feel excitement about the new technology and are sometimes willing to pay more for the experience [01:57].
- Drivers feel anxious, viewing AVs as a direct threat to their jobs and the industry long-term [02:17].
- Closing the Price Gap: While robotaxis were once much more expensive than Uber or Lyft, that price gap is closing rapidly, making them a more realistic competitor [03:13].
Legal Concerns and LiabilityThe primary concern for LegalRideshare is how companies will be held accountable when things go wrong [06:02].
- The Accountability Gap: In a traditional accident, tort law and insurance policies are well-established. With robotaxis, it is unclear who is negligent when there is no driver [07:01].
- Two Potential Legal Paths:
- Standard Insurance: Treating accidents like any other car crash where the vehicle's insurance covers damages [07:28].
- Product Liability: Treating crashes as technology failures or defective products. This path is much more costly to litigate and harder for victims to recover damages from [07:48].
What to Do if Injured by a RobotaxiIf you are a passenger, another driver, or a gig worker involved in an accident with a Waymo in Chicago, the speakers recommend the following:
- Document Everything: Even though there is no human driver, you must call the police to create a formal report and document the scene [09:15].
- Gather Evidence: Take photos of the vehicle, the point of collision, and any other involved parties [09:23].
- Seek Legal Counsel: Consult with specialists to determine if the claim should be filed against a standard insurance policy or as a product liability claim against Waymo [10:02].
FULL TRANSCRIPTION:
JARED HOFFA
[00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, drivers, gig workers, and everyone in between, welcome to This Week in Ride Share podcast. I'm your host, Jared Hoffa. It is Friday, uh, February 27th, and this week we are talking everything robotaxis, and as always, LegalRideshare breaks it down.
[00:00:26] And from LegalRideshare, I'm joined by the co-founder and lead attorney, Bryant Greening. Bryant, happy Friday.
BRYANT GREENING
[00:00:33] Happy Friday, Jared. Great to be back and excited to talk about robotaxis. There's a lot of big news coming out, uh, nationwide and particularly locally here in Chicago, so I'm excited to get going.
JARED HOFFA
[00:00:44] Yeah, you know, last time we were talking to Torsten, we ran out of time to talk about this and, you know, it's obviously vital. And just like you said, you know, we're talking about robotaxis specifically today because especially in Illinois, they're mapping.
[00:00:57] So, Waymo is approaching Chicago, Illinois. So it's now hitting the Midwest. It is here. So I thought it'd be a good time to discuss the ins and outs, the good and bads, the gray areas of robotaxis, and just help people understand where they're at, where the dangers are, and, you know, really what to expect. And I think a lot of this information is not out yet. Uh, as we saw, I believe yesterday, the Tribune, you know, posted kind of the first article saying, “Hey, they're coming. There's a lot of questions in Springfield.” And so let's — let's dive in.
JARED HOFFA
[00:01:28] Uh, you know, the first thing is, you know, what do you hear on your end as far as drivers and who you've talked to? What is sort of the current mood about the Waymos as far as passenger drivers? Are you hearing anything in particular?
BRYANT GREENING
[00:01:39] Yeah, so we talk to drivers and passengers all the time, um, and we have contacts nationwide, so we have our finger on the pulse, I think, in terms of, uh, how people are feeling about this new technology. Um, on the passenger side, it seems like there's a lot of excitement. Seems like people are ready to try the new technology. Um, we've already seen stories where people are willing to actually pay more for the, uh, robo-taxi experience. Um, so, you know, this is, I think, welcomed in — in the rider community.
[00:02:11] Um, as it relates to the drivers, it's — it's much more complicated and I think they really see, uh, AVs as a threat to the industry. They see their jobs at risk. Um, and ultimately, the companies, I — I think, have been clear that the long-term goal is to replace drivers with robotaxis and transform ride share into a completely autonomous experience. Uh, I don't think that's going to be anytime in the immediate near future, but long term, that's the goal and — and that's, I think, where drivers are pretty anxious.
JARED HOFFA
[00:02:51] Yeah, and we've, you know, we've always talked about robotaxis in general, but we are even seeing a shift from novelty to reality. And a lot of this is what you had just talked about. You know, there was an article which I have — I pulled up here from Business Insider that's showcasing, you know, one of the things about Waymo has always been, “Well, it's — it's so much more expensive than, you know, an Uber or Lyft driver,” so, you know, Uber and Lyft drivers are safe.
[00:03:13] But this Business Insider article from just a couple weeks ago is showing that gap is seriously closing already. Uh, and so what we're seeing now is, like you said, it seems like the passenger side is very excited, um, but now it's not just excitement on a novelty; it's excitement on “This is actually becoming affordable,” or soon to be affordable. And so what does that mean for drivers now? Um, so we're seeing this sort of shift, um, and we're seeing frustrations and rightfully so.
[00:03:45] You know, and as usual, um, you know, a lot of the big ride share companies are being not too transparent about their ultimate goals, uh, on what they — what they want to do. So, uh, I understand, you know, in terms of the vibe of — of really what's happening with robotaxis, there's — there's frustration, there's uncertainty, and then on — on the other side, there's excitement, right?
BRYANT GREENING
[00:04:03] Yeah, we'll — we'll see how quickly things change, but ultimately, I — I think that this excitement on the consumer base is going to be driving the ride share companies' decisions. Uh, not to mention them being extremely cost-effective when the technology is — is ultimately perfected. If they don't have to pay the driver and they can have a vehicle on the road all the time, perhaps an electric vehicle who they don't have to gas up all the time, it's going to be much cheaper, uh, to put rides, you know, on the streets to complete those rides for the passengers. And, uh, I think the companies see a real opportunity to pad their pockets by getting rid of a lot of the operating costs while perhaps even making a cheaper experience for the passengers. So the drivers are going to be the ones that get squeezed out while the companies are making a ton of money and — and the passengers are perhaps having an even cheaper experience.
JARED HOFFA
[00:04:56] Yeah, and we're, you know, one thing — one of the things we're really seeing right now, too, is, you know, there seems to be a lot of gray areas in legal issues and again, uncertainty, you know, just in general about how these operate. Uh, and you and I have discussed in length about, you know, the idea of, again, disrupting the ride share market, although this time there is no course-correcting with the human. If something goes wrong, it really goes wrong. Uh, you know, I'm sure you saw the article — I think this came out a week or two ago, maybe even less — where they're now hiring gig workers to shut the doors for Waymos because they're not shutting or opening them because they're not doing it. Uh, we — we just saw recently that New York is straight up refusing robotaxis.
[00:05:47] So my question to you is, at this moment, what are the obvious, you know, gray areas or legal issues just in general over the whole robo-taxi Waymo experience?
BRYANT GREENING
[00:05:55] Well, the biggest one that we're concerned about is safety and what happens when things do go wrong. So as with any technology, any transportation, there are going to be events, there are going to be accidents, there's going to be injuries, there's going to be fatalities. It's a fact of life. Um, I don't care how safe these vehicles are, I don't care if they're quote-unquote “perfect” sometime down the line, things happen.
[00:06:21] And when these — these tragedies and casualties and bodily injuries occur, we want to know how are the companies going to be held accountable. In a traditional car accident, we — we know exactly what happens. We know the tort law, uh, in place is going to make this an insurance claim where the at-fault, uh, driver, um, has to pay for the damages, usually through their insurance policy, where people's medical bills get covered, people's lost wages get covered, pain and suffering is taken care of.
[00:07:01] In these situations, there is no driver there. We — we don't know exactly who is going to be found negligent or responsible for a crash. And that question is really very important because if we don't know who to hold accountable, then we don't know how people who are injured are going to be made whole. Um, there are two paths that I really see, uh, in the future and we're going to have to choose one.
[00:07:22] One: are we going to treat these accidents just like every other car accident and have these vehicles insured, um, you know, through a regular insurance policy, and if they are involved in an accident, then the — the injured person is just going to be able to go down that path as we all know?
[00:07:39] Alternatively: are these going to be treated as different types of events where they're products liability, the technology failed, the vehicle was defective? And those are much different claims, much more costly claims to litigate, and ultimately much harder for people to recover damages from. So, I — if we go down that path, if these are treated as products liability claims, injured people are going to have a very difficult time being made whole by the — the injuries that were caused by these cars. So that was a — a long-winded answer, but that's really where I'm concerned in terms of the legality and — and legal issues that are coming up with these vehicles, where policy needs to be decided right away before these cars hit the street so that we know how injured people are going to be made whole when safety is — is not effectuated and the system has failed.
JARED HOFFA
[00:08:30] Which really brings me — this brings me to my next question here, and I think the most crucial especially for LegalRideshare is, you know, if I'm a passenger in a Waymo and I'm injured in Chicago, what do I do? Because as you said, it's a little bit different now. There's no driver. It's a different situation. What should a passenger do who's injured in — in a Waymo in Chicago?
[00:08:58] Well, the first thing you should do is call us so that you can have a free consultation as to how to handle the event. Um, we need to make sure that we're gathering all the evidence that we can from the scene. Uh, take pictures, call the police. Um, you know, it might seem silly — you're in an autonomous vehicle and you're calling the police officer to make a report, like, on what, the — the driverless car? Yes. We need to document what happened, where the vehicle is, uh, where the collision point was. Uh, perhaps it's another driver on the roadway that caused the crash, and that would be the primary focus, their insurance policy. Perhaps it was a single-car accident where the robo-taxi drove into a — a light pole. All of these different factors need to be documented, um, and investigated so that we can make sure that we're going down the correct path and that we're seeking recovery from the responsible parties.
[00:09:55] And in — in the case of an autonomous vehicle, as you're describing, Jared, we're going to file claims and suits if we have to against anyone and everyone involved to make sure that you recover for your damages, uh, you know, no matter where that leads us, whether it's that standard insurance policy that we were talking about or whether we need to make that claim, uh, against, uh, Waymo based on their product, based on their faulty technology. Um, we will follow the facts, we will investigate it, we'll make sure that you get, uh, the compensation that you deserve.
JARED HOFFA
[00:10:26] Yeah, and I'm assuming that would be the same even if you're — let's say you're an Uber driver and you get hit by a Waymo, or you're a — just another driver and a Waymo causes an accident. Is it still the same process, uh, in Chicago if that happens?
BRYANT GREENING
[00:10:37] It's exactly the same. So if you are involved in any sort of Waymo-related accident, any autonomous vehicle claim, uh, you want to contact us because it's — it's the investigation at the beginning that sets the foundation to the case. It's opening the claims with the correct insurance companies. It's following the facts wherever they lead and ensuring that whatever damage that you've sustained, whether it's damage to your car, damage to your person, damage to your livelihood, that we're seeking compensation to ensure that you recover everything that you've lost.
[00:11:04] Got it. Bryant, this has been very informational. I think we could probably even talk about this more in length specifically about, you know, some of the areas with the injuries and accidents, but you know, because it's so fresh, because this is so new, uh, we just have to keep talking about it because there's so much uncertainty, you know, as you said, in which way is this going to go. Is this going to be, uh, like you said, a technical malfunction or is this going to be a car accident? Uh, and so we — we just don't know, but obviously we're — we're going to be here to help.
JARED HOFFA
[00:11:48] You know, and as — and of course before we head into the weekend, I'm definitely going to give you the final saying to let people know, “Hey, if this stuff happens, what do they do?”
BRYANT GREENING
[00:11:59] Yeah, if you find yourself involved in an accident, I would urge you to contact LegalRideshare right away. You can find all of our contact information on legalrideshare.com. Um, we will help you recover for anything that — that you've lost, whether it's the cost of medical treatment, lost wages, pain and suffering, um, whatever damage that you've sustained, um, we're going to fight to make sure that you are fully compensated for those injuries. Uh, legalrideshare.com and consultations are always free.
[00:12:28] Thank you, Bryant. And as I like to say, that is the end of this week in Ride Share. See you next week.
Source Video: TWIR 2 26 26
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo under fire for remote workers, New York kills robotaxis and Uber cranks up background checks. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO USES REMOTE ASSISTANCE WORKERSWaymo defends remote assistance on its cars. Reuters reported:
Self-driving unit Waymo on Tuesday defended its use of remote assistance personnel in the face of questions from Congress and said they have never been used to move robotaxis in U.S. on-road operations.
Waymo told Democratic Senator Ed Markey in a letter that it has not used remote driving or “tele-operations” to perform driving tasks. In rare circumstances, some U.S.-based personnel could prompt a stopped AV to move forward at 2 mph (3 kph) for a short distance to exit the travel lane but that has not happened outside of training.
Markey and Republican Representative Buddy Carter have raised concerns about the use of remote personnel including some remote assistance personnel based in the Philippines.
Waymo said its remote assistance personnel provide advice and support to Waymo robotaxis “but do not directly control, steer, or drive the vehicle.”
Waymo operates four centers for remote assistance in Arizona, Michigan, and in two cities in the Philippines to support its fleet and at any given time, there are approximately 70 remote assistance agents, the company said. Only the Event Response Team, which manages responses to crashes or safety incidents and is based in the United States, could move a stopped vehicle.
Markey said in a February 3 letter that Waymo had provided little public information about its policies around remote personnel, adding Congress and the public deserve assurance that the company's remote assistance operations will not endanger passengers, other road users, or national security.
NEW YORK ROBOTAXI PLAN KILLEDNew York has pulled its robotaxi plan. Bloomberg reported:
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pulled a proposal that would have allowed for commercial robotaxi services outside New York City, a blow to Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo as it seeks to aggressively expand its driverless fleet this year.
The proposal, which Hochul had included in her budget proposal last month, would have allowed autonomous-vehicle companies such as Waymo to apply for permission to pilot their services without human operators in the vehicle. The decision to withdraw the plan was confirmed Thursday by the governor's office to Bloomberg News.
The move is a setback for Waymo, which is planning to hit more than 1 million paid weekly robotaxi rides in the US by the end of this year. The company has said it plans to expand across 20 cities in 2026 in the US and abroad, including in Dallas, San Antonio, Orlando, Nashville and London. Although Hochul's initial proposal excluded New York City, expanding in the rest of the state would have gotten Waymo a step closer to serving one of the biggest ride-hailing markets in the world.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents more than 20,000 rideshare and taxi drivers, celebrated the decision after earlier opposing the robotoxi plan on the grounds that it could replace some human workers.
UBER ENACTS STRICTER BACKGROUND CHECKSUber is enacting stricter background checks. The New York Times reported:
Uber is taking steps to enact stricter background checks, after a New York Times investigation in December revealed that the ride-hailing giant's policies allowed for drivers with many types of criminal convictions, including violent felonies.
The company had barred drivers convicted of murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and terrorism. But in 22 states, The Times found, the company had approved people convicted of most other crimes — including violent felonies, child abuse, assault and stalking — so long as the convictions were at least seven years old.
Now, Uber is preparing to change those policies to bar people convicted of violent felonies, sexual offenses, and child or elder abuse and endangerment from driving for Uber, regardless of when those crimes occurred, according to people briefed on the matter. It is unclear when and how the changes will go into effect.
The company also is considering changing its policies for other offenses, including harassment, restraining order violations and weapons charges, which are generally allowed if the convictions are more than seven years old.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber is positive on robotaxis, Florida reduces insurance and a new e-hail app. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER SEES OPPORTUNITY IN ROBOTAXISUber sees light at the end of the tunnel for robotaxis. Axios reported:
Uber's superpower, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi argues, is the efficiency of its global network — something standalone AV companies lack.
He's positioning Uber as an “indispensable demand layer,” Brulte notes, with the company hoping to become the world's largest facilitator of AV trips by 2029.
“AVs fundamentally amplify the strengths of our platform,” Khosrowshahi told investors: “global scale, deep demand density, sophisticated marketplace technology, and decades of experience matching riders, drivers and vehicles, all in real time,” he said.
The intrigue: Early data suggests Uber's ride-hailing demand is expanding, not shrinking, in cities where AVs operate, Khosrowshahi said — even in places where they're not yet available on Uber's network.
FLORIDA REDUCES INSURANCE REQUIREMENTSFlorida is looking to reduce insurance. Tampa Bay Times reported:
Currently, the company has to have liability coverage of at least $1 million for death, bodily injury and property damage for all periods of a ride. The bill would reduce the required coverage to $50,000 when a ride is accepted. When a passenger is in the vehicle, it would go back to $1 million.
Bill sponsor Sen. Nick DiCeglie, a St. Petersburg Republican, said he's heard concerns about needing higher insurance if a driver was speeding to a ride. But he's said he's not seen any evidence showing that's common.
“It's a cost savings, and at the end of the day, that's going to always benefit the employee and ultimately the consumer,” DiCeglie said.
Representatives from Lyft's primary competitor, Uber, said the company isn't lobbying either way on the legislation.
Under legislation passed that year, rideshare companies would be regulated as technology companies with independent contractors instead of as taxi companies. And the deal included requiring the higher insurance limits for all stages of a ride.
UNLICENSED E-HAIL APP CHALLENGES UBERAn unlicensed e-hail app is challenging Uber. Gothamist reported:
The company, called Empower, markets itself as a pro-worker platform where drivers pay a $50 monthly fee to use the app. The driver can take home 100% of their fare, which they set themselves. The system leads to cheaper rides for passengers and higher wages for drivers, the company claims.
But Empower is facilitating those rides over the objection of the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, which set up a dedicated website warning New Yorkers not to use the app.
In order for an app-based ride to be legal in the five boroughs, the platform must register for a “base” with the TLC — a facility where cars are dispatched to passengers and operated by the company. Empower doesn't have one.
The company is supposed to pay a $1,500 application fee to secure the base, and insure each of its vehicles.
Sear said thousands of drivers provide “tens of thousands” of rides in the city through Empower each week. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the 88,000 drivers providing more than 4 million rides a week for Uber and Lyft, but Sear says the app giants have taken notice.
“I've spoken with board members of Uber,” said Sear. “ This is an existential threat to their business, and they are going to do everything in their power, bribe every official they can, influence anyone, pull every lever they can to stop drivers from working for themselves.
Uber did not respond to a request for comment on Sear's claims.
Empower is in ongoing civil litigation with municipal regulators in Washington, D.C., who took issue with the company's launch in the district without approval. A judge ruled the company and Sear be held in contempt of court after they kept offering rides. Court documents show that Empower is appealing that contempt order.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
What happens when you get into an accident with a passenger in the car? In this special clip, LegalRideshare teams up with @AskTorsten (The Rideshare Professor) to tackle the toughest parts of the job: crash liability, passenger injuries, and how to protect yourself when things go wrong on the road. We discuss: Immediate steps to take after a rideshare accident. How to handle passengers who are injured or difficult. The truth about Uber/Lyft insurance coverage. Have you been injured in a rideshare accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com ---------- LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this week's episode, we cover a devastating financial blow to the driver community involving a massive $550 million loss. Plus, tensions boil over as human drivers officially begin protesting Waymo robotaxis, and Uber heads to court for a high-stakes trial. LegalRideshare breaks down what these stories mean for your wallet and your job security. ------ Have you been injured in a rideshare or robotaxi accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone. Call us: (312) 767-7950 Visit us: https://www.legalrideshare.com Email: help@legalrideshare.com ------ LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Male drivers sue, Waymo hits the highways and Uber sends rides. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MALE DRIVERS SUE UBER/LYFT FOR DISCRIMINATIONMale drivers are suing Uber & Lyft over discrimination. Time reported:
Male drivers for Uber and Lyft are suing the companies over a feature that lets users hail only women drivers.
The dual class action suits allege that the functions — which followed thousands of sexual harassment and assault lawsuits against Uber and Lyft over the years — have limited the economic opportunities for men and discriminated against them because of their gender.
Lawyers acting for the plaintiffs argue that male drivers “are discriminated against and receive fewer and different rides than they otherwise would absent the policy.” They contend that the policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women.”
California has some of the nation's strongest anti-discrimination laws. The lawsuit accuses both Uber and Lyft of violating the Unruh Act, a California civil rights law that “expressly prohibits sex discrimination by business enterprises.”
They are seeking $4,000 in damages per male driver in California for violating state law.
WAYMO ON HIGHWAYSWaymo hits the highways. Bloomberg reported:
Waymo will become the first robotaxi provider in the US to offer driverless rides on highways, a milestone that positions it to better compete with ride-hailing companies and traditional taxi services.
Beginning Wednesday, the Alphabet Inc. unit will begin offering some riders routes that include freeways in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, it said in a statement. Freeway service will be available 24 hours a day. Users who have opted in to Waymo's new services and features will be the first to be able to try this kind of trip.
Waymo's US rivals are also testing highway driving and in some cases charging customers, but until now the presence of a human in the car was a given. Tesla Inc. recently launched its self-driving cab services in Austin, where it offers some highway rides, with a safety monitor in the driver seat for those kinds of routes. (It also has human monitors present for non-highway rides, but they sit in the passenger seat in those cases.) Separately, the Elon Musk-led company is testing a purpose-built self-driving “Cybercab,” which Musk said will go into production in April.
UBER MAKES IT EASIER TO SEND A RIDEUber is adding new features. The Verge reported:
The new “Send a Ride” feature allows you to pay for someone else's Uber ride directly from the app. You set the number of rides and spending limit, then send a link to whoever you want to gift the rides to.
Additionally, John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Orlando International Airport are now available for Uber Share, which discounts your Uber fare when you share your ride with someone heading in the same direction. The update arrives as airports are still experiencing disruptions that could carry on for a while, even now that the government shutdown has ended.
Another new feature, Uber Ski, makes it easier to reserve an UberXL or UberXXL directly to nearly 40 top ski locations around North America and Europe, and allows you to purchase “Epic” ski and snowboard passes at the same time. Lastly, Uber Eats is getting a Cameo-like feature for the holiday season that will let you add a celebrity video message to gifted Uber Eats orders, including the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, the Jonas Brothers, Jake Shane, and Tracee Ellis Ross.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Boston clamps down on robotaxis, Uber takes on Waymo and gig workers get a new gig. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
BOSTON VS. DRIVERLESS TAXISBoston is putting the breaks on driverless taxis. Bloomberg reported:
Boston city councilors are proposing an ordinance that would require Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo and other autonomous ride-share services to have a human operator present in the vehicle.
The legislation would mandate a study on the technology's effects on the employment of current ride-share drivers and prohibit self-driving cars from operating in Boston until that's been completed and other permitting requirements are established. Even then, the cars wouldn't be allowed to operate unless a human safety operator is inside the vehicle and able to intervene, according to the proposed ordinance.
The restrictions are up for possible action at a meeting on Wednesday, though councilors said there are likely to be more hearings on the legislation before it comes to a full vote. Typically, proposals from city councilors that advance must pass through committee and then receive public hearings before the mayor signs off. The exact language of Boston's restrictions on autonomous vehicles could change substantially before anything becomes law.
Boston has been something of a hotbed for autonomous vehicle development. Hyundai Motor Co.-backed Motional is headquartered in the city and has been testing on public roads there since 2016. Boston is also among the cities where Waymo, which is widely considered to be the leader in the space, has been doing mapping and testing work as the company looks to expand service to new US cities.
Ethan Teicher, a spokesperson for Waymo, said in a post on X that the proposal would make Boston the “first major city in the world to ban fully autonomous vehicles based entirely on vibes,” adding that the company's vehicles improve safety. A local Teamsters chapter and other labor unions have protested the rollout of autonomous ride-share services in Massachusetts.
UBER VS WAYMO IN SFUber is taking on Waymo in San Fran. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. is preparing to offer driverless rides on vehicles developed by Lucid Group Inc. and Nuro Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time next year, thrusting the company into direct competition with Waymo's robotaxi service.
Road testing of the vehicles — Lucid Gravity SUVs outfitted with Nuro's self-driving technology — is currently underway with drivers manually operating them, a Nuro spokesperson said. The first cars in the test fleet were delivered in September, and the number will grow to more than a hundred in the coming months, according to an Uber statement.
The move is a step toward Uber challenging Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo, whose driverless taxis have become ubiquitous in San Francisco. The two companies currently work together to provide Waymo rides on the Uber app in Austin, Atlanta and Phoenix, but Waymo offers its own service in major urban markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles. Next year, Waymo will expand its service to Miami, London and Washington.
Uber, meanwhile, has struck more than a dozen deals with robotaxi developers in the past year — a bet on a future where autonomous vehicles and human drivers complement each other on its platform. That push has included investing hundreds of millions of dollars in both Lucid and Nuro.
NEW GIGS FOR GIG WORKERS\Robotaxis could offer new gigs for gig workers. Business Insider reported:
As self-driving cars become cheaper and more common, though, there could be a new opportunity for drivers in the world of robotaxis, said Jeremy Bird, Lyft's executive vice president of driver experience.
“The hybrid world of that future might be that the driver is the owner of the vehicle that they are able to put on the platform,” Bird told Business Insider.
Robotaxis could create other jobs as well, such as at the depots that maintain the vehicles, Bird said. The cars would need to be charged and serviced around the clock.
Walter Strobel, who drives for Lyft in the Bay Area and previously ran his own delivery business, said that he would consider taking out a loan to buy vehicles that he could make available to Lyft for rides.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Taxi drivers protest, Lyft tests loyalty and Uber pays $4000 to drivers. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TAXI DRIVERS “TOTAL SHUTDOWN”Taxis are preparing a total shutdown. Catalan News reported:
Barcelona's taxi drivers are planning a “total shutdown” of the city on Tuesday night in protest against FC Barcelona's new partnership with Uber.
Élite Taxi has condemned the club's sponsorship deal, which makes Uber an official partner of FC Barcelona.
They call it an agreement with “criminals” who have built their business on “deregulation, labor exploitation, and tax evasion.”
The union warned that further protests will follow future matches if the partnership is not canceled.
LYFT LOYALTY REWARDSLyft tests new loyalty rewards. Bloomberg reported:
Lyft Inc. is piloting a program that offers some customers cash back on future rides, the latest effort to win over users from rival Uber Technologies Inc.
The new program will let users earn as much as 5% cash back on rides if they opt to auto-reload their account with cash. Setting the auto-refill amount to $100 comes with other benefits like relaxed cancellation fees and free ride upgrades each month.
The company is opening early access to the feature for riders in the Bay Area, as well as customers who have been using Lyft for at least 10 years. A company spokesperson said the program may roll out more broadly next year depending on feedback during this testing period.
Launching a cash-back program is another way Lyft is trying to deepen loyalty from users who might have otherwise chosen Uber, which owns more than 70% of the US rideshare market. Uber has a similar feature called Uber Cash that allows users to pre-load funds for rides or to access ride credits from credit card promotions, but it does not have a rewards structure.
UBER PAYS $4000 FOR DRIVERS TO GO EVUber is paying drivers $4000 to go EV. The Verge reported:
As it rushes to meet its pledge for “100 percent” of trips in electric vehicles by 2030, Uber is offering grants of $4,000 for drivers to swap their gas-guzzlers for zero-tailpipe emission vehicles. The company is also dropping its “Uber Green” branding in favor of the more simple “Uber Electric.”
Uber has said it will be completely carbon neutral in North America and Europe by 2030 and in all global markets by 2040. But when it first announced this pledge in 2020, it said it wouldn't directly pay drivers to ditch their gas-burning vehicles in favor of EVs. Now, the company is reversing that decision in the hopes that direct payments can help accelerate EV adoption.
Not every driver will be eligible for the grants, at least not initially. As part of Uber's new “Go Electric” program, drivers in New York City, California, Colorado, and Massachusetts can apply for $4,000 when they switch to a new or used EV. When combined with local incentives, like Massachusetts' MOR-EV and Colorado's Clean Fleet Program, EV prices can drop even further.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Hong Kong regulates Uber, the future is Waymo and drivers earn extra cash. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
HONG KONG REGULATES UBERAfter a decade, Hong Kong has finally regulated Uber. Bloomberg reported:
Under new rules to take in effect next year, ride-hailing platforms, vehicles and drivers will need to obtain relevant licences and permits, according to a government statement. The regulation also strengthens penalties for the illegal carriage of paying passengers.
The bill “will address the long-standing controversies surrounding such services and provide the public with more travel options that are safer and lawful,” Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said in a statement.
Under the new rules, drivers will need to be at least 21 years old and have no serious traffic convictions within the past five years.
Uber said it welcomed the government's move to formally regulate ride-sharing in Hong Kong. The bill will help integrate ride-sharing into the city's transport system and ensure riders and drivers alike benefit from clear rules, an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
IS WAYMO THE FUTURE?Is Waymo the future? One reporter thinks so. Bloomberg reported:
I've covered the car industry for 20 years, and I would hate to see our sports coupes and road trips disappear. The risks associated with relinquishing control over my mobility also give me pause. Or they did. I took a Waymo for the first time recently in Los Angeles and … I haven't stopped using it since. Rather than replace our cool cars, self-driving vehicles will, I predict, become a welcome complement to modern life, first as part of ride-sharing platforms and then as privately owned transport. Why? Because they offer an excellent solution for something nobody likes: commuting.
If driving is heaven, commuting is hell. Not even the hardest-core drivers like it. So the question isn't whether self-driving will replace our favorite cars (I think not), but rather, will it remove the burden of our most mundane trips? And could it replace other ride-sharing platforms like Uber? I certainly hope so.
Beyond Waymo, robo-taxis and -shuttles are also running in China, Singapore and the Middle East, and they're being tested across Europe. The vehicles are expected to become commercially available in the US at a large scale by 2030, according to the research firm McKinsey.
But they're a long way from being ubiquitous. A world of self-driving cars will require billions of dollars of development, improved navigation systems, increased charging infrastructures and new regulations to amend traffic laws. Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen have all canceled autonomous taxi programs they once funded by the billions. (GM is planning to renew exploring autonomous cars for personal use, rather than as a robotaxi service.) Tesla's Robotaxis aren't open to the public. Given the company's proclivity for extensive delays, it's unclear when they will be.
UBER OFFERS NEW WAYS TO MAKE MONEYUber is offering new ways for drivers to make money. Bloomberg reported:
A new job category called “digital tasks” will appear in the Uber driver app for some workers later this fall, offering existing registered drivers the opportunity to make a few bucks if they take on simple assignments that can be completed within minutes, according to the company.
Those stints currently include uploading documents like restaurant menus, or recording audio samples of themselves narrating a scenario in various languages, said Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal. More tasks will be added over time, he said, and the payout will vary based on the time commitment of each assignment.
Uber is seeking to ride the wave of a growing appetite for bespoke datasets and labeling services that require human vetting to train AI models. Scale AI, which offers similar services, received more than $14 billion in investment from Meta Platforms Inc. earlier this year and is valued at more than $29 billion.
Kansal said in an interview that the new digital tasks aren't meant as an answer to potential driver displacement from the increasing availability of autonomous vehicles, but as a way to keep attracting drivers to the app with more ways to earn.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers get the greenlight to unionize, Waymo hires lobbyists and Lyft kills tips. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
NEWSOM SIGNS BILL — CA DRIVERS CAN UNIONIZEDrivers in CA can soon unionize. TechCrunch reported:
Drivers for ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft will soon have the right to unionize in California as independent contractors, thanks to a bill signed Friday by Governor Gavin Newsom.
This is part of a larger deal between lawmakers, unions, and ride-hailing companies, resulting in the passage of separate bills supporting lower insurance requirements for Uber and Lyft, along with union rights for their drivers. When the deal was first announced in August, Newsom described it as a “historic agreement between workers and business that only California could deliver.”
The Associated Press reports that more than 800,000 drivers will gain the right to join a union and collectively bargain for better pay and benefits. Ramona Prieto, Uber's head of public policy for California, told the AP in a statement that the two bills “represent a compromise that lowers costs for riders while creating stronger voices for drivers.”
WAYMO HIRES LOBBYISTSWaymo hires lobbyists. Axios reported:
Waymo recently hired four lobbyists from a local firm, state disclosures show, signaling that it's gearing up to push for a green light to test — and eventually launch — its autonomous vehicles in Minnesota.
Teicher didn't respond to Axios' question about Waymo's specific policy goals, but said the company is “engaging with regulators and lawmakers across the globe” to explain its technology in hopes of expanding to more markets.
DFL Rep. Erin Koegel, co-chair of the House transportation committee, said she was “more skeptical and a little bit more apprehensive” about autonomous vehicles in previous sessions.
LYFT KILLS TIP FEATURELyft kills the tips feature. News Nation reported:
Lyft has scrapped a test feature that let some drivers see how often passengers tip before accepting a ride.
“While this experiment showed early signs of improving the marketplace and helping riders to get to where they need to go on time, we heard our customers and cancelled the experiment,” a Lyft spokesperson told NewsNation in an email Thursday.
The decision comes after screenshots of the feature drew criticism on social media, with some vowing to stop using the popular rideshare service.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Attorney Bryant Greening lays out his concerns over Robotaxi safety and lack of regulations.
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Tesla's FSD is a mess, thoughts on Uber's pilot program and Waymo goes B2B. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TESLA'S FSD TROUBLESPress enter or click to view image in full sizePeople are calling Tesla's FSD a “mess”. Forbes reported:
During a 90-minute test drive in Los Angeles, in residential neighborhoods and freeways, the 2024 Model Y with Tesla's latest hardware and software (Hardware 4, FSD version 13.2.9) ignored some standard traffic signs and posted speed limits; didn't slow at a pedestrian crossing with a flashing sign and people present; made pointless lane changes and accelerated at odd times, such as while exiting a crowded freeway with a red light at the end of the ramp. There's also no indication the company has fixed a worrisome glitch identified two years ago: stopping for a flashing school bus sign indicating that children may be about to cross a street.
In fact, there are so many easy-to-find problems with the feature, recently redubbed “Full-Self Driving (Supervised),” it raises a question: Why is the $8,000 feature, or a $99 a month subscription, even legal in its current form?
Turns out, there's a simple answer: “Driving-assist systems are unregulated, so there are no concerns about legality,” said Missy Cummings, a George Mason University professor and AI expert who has advised the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on autonomous vehicles. “NHTSA has the authority to step in, but up to now they've only stepped in for poor driver monitoring.”
NHTSA, which opened an investigation last month into Tesla's failure to report FSD and Autopilot accidents in a timely manner, said it “does not pre-approve new technologies or vehicle systems.” Instead, it's up to carmakers to certify that vehicles and technologies meet federal safety standards. If an investigation finds a system to be unsafe, “NHTSA will take any necessary actions to protect road safety,” a spokesperson said.
UBER'S WOMEN-ONLY SERVICEUber has rolled out its women-only service. But is it working? Knowledge at Wharton explains:
Uber announced the program, called Women Preferences, in July and has since rolled it out in Los Angeles, Detroit, and San Francisco. The company said the initiative is in response to feedback from women saying they want the option to be matched to other women. Allegations of sexual assault have plagued the ride-hail industry almost since its inception. While a vast majority of Uber's trips are without incident, court records revealed that more than 400,000 Uber trips between 2017 and 2022 resulted in reports of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, according to The New York Times.
But Cameron said for the program to succeed in the United States, Uber has to get enough women drivers on the road to meet the demand without significantly increasing wait times. That's a challenge because the company has said most of its drivers are men.
Lyft, the second-largest ride-hail operator in the U.S., already has a gender-based program called Women+ Connect that launched in 2023. It allows women and nonbinary drivers to match with women and nonbinary passengers. It said wait times were the same, although it did not provide details.
In an August 2024 press release, Lyft said there were early indications that the program was incentivizing more female drivers to get behind the wheel. When the program started, women and nonbinary drivers were getting matched with women and nonbinary riders 50% of the time. In a year, that number had increased to 66%.
WAYMO ENTERPRISE SERVICEWaymo goes B2B. Bloomberg reported:
Dubbed “Waymo for Business,” the new enterprise offering targets employers, universities and event organizers that have subsidized transportation programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, where Waymo currently offers paid trips on its own app. The interface allows corporations to manage discount codes, track rides and plan budgets, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Alphabet Inc.-owned self-driving car unit is inviting organizations to register for the tool — at no extra cost — after piloting it with several firms. One of those named in the statement is the used-car platform Carvana Co., which has provided Waymo rides for employees and guests at its events.
Commuters are a key demographic for ride-hailing services. Waymo said one in six of its users in those three markets rely on it for traveling to work or school. For Uber Technologies Inc., commutes comprised nearly 30% of its rideshare and delivery bookings in 2024. Those trips similarly made up more than a third of Lyft Inc.'s total rides in the first quarter.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Tourists pay for the AV experience, Waymo lands at SFO and Lyft testing tipping riders. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TOURISTS PAY HUNRDREDS FOR WAYMOTourists are using Waymo as it's own adventure. SF Chronicle reported:
From February to August, Mihaly booked 10 Waymo tours in which clients would ride the autonomous vehicles to such prominent landmarks as Alamo Square, Twin Peaks and the Golden Gate Bridge.
At $149 for a three-hour, three-ride “experience,” these jaunts became so popular that Mihaly began offering them in Los Angeles, Waymo's other flagship market in California. She had four Waymo tours on the calendar as of Aug. 18, the day the self-driving car juggernaut sent a cease-and-desist letter. Mihaly had, it turned out, violated the company's terms and conditions for brand display.
Clearly, Waymo's bedrock consumers are the regular commuters who might otherwise hail rides with Uber or Lyft. But some experts say the company would be wise to divert some of its focus to tourists, who might pay more money for the thrill of an autonomous ride.
WAYMO AT SFOPress enter or click to view image in full sizeWaymo lands at SFO. SF.gov explains:
Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced that the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has signed a Testing and Operations Pilot Permit for autonomous vehicles with Waymo, allowing the company to begin operating at the airport. Operations will be rolled out in three phases, including testing the vehicles with a human driver, testing the vehicles without a human driver with Waymo and airport employees, and eventually beginning commercial operations.
The permit allows Waymo to access portions of the airport to test and pilot autonomous vehicle operations on designated roads and property and will be rolled out in three phases. Phases include:
Phase 1: Testing autonomous vehicles in autonomous mode with a trained specialist behind the wheel
Phase 2: Testing passenger service in fully autonomous mode with Waymo employees and designated airport staff as passengers
Phase 3: Piloting commercial operations of paid-for-hire autonomous services for Waymo customers
The pilot permit follows a comprehensive review process, including safety protocols and data reporting requirements. Under the terms of the agreement, Waymo will operate within strict safety and reporting conditions to ensure dependable service for trips to and from SFO.
LYFT TO TELL DRIVERS IF RIDER TIPSPress enter or click to view image in full sizeLyft is letting drivers know if their rider tips. Bloomberg reported:
Lyft Inc. is testing a feature that will tell drivers how often a rider tips and how punctual they are, providing additional information drivers can use when deciding which trips are worth their time.
Lyft drivers typically decide whether to accept a passenger based on information such as what the trip pays, the time and distance to the pick-up and drop-off points, and the rider's rating.
The company is now also showing “rider tipped on X% of rides” and “rider is usually ready at pickup,” according to a screenshot shared by a Boston-based driver on X. Lyft is testing the feature with a “limited number” of drivers, a spokesperson said in response to a Bloomberg News inquiry, and said the company will gather data and community feedback before deciding on a broader roll-out.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo heads to Denver, Lyft AVs hit Atlanta and the government sues Uber. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO IS IN DENVERPhoto Credit: WaymoWaymo lands in Denver. Jalopnik reported:
In both cities, Waymo will take the gradual rollout approach it's used in the past. The first step will be coordinating with local officials in the areas it intends to operate. Then its Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr vehicles will begin scanning the area with human drivers in command. Later, the vehicles will take control under close supervision, and will only take passengers once Waymo is satisfied that its robotaxis are fully ready for Denver and Seattle.
Community response is mixed. According to Denver 7, some are genuinely interested in the technology and believe in its potential safety benefits. However, taxi and rideshare drivers are concerned about losing their jobs to automated taxis like Waymo, says KING 5, as we've seen in other cities like Boston. Some are also concerned about how capable these vehicles will be in Denver's snowy winter conditions.
LYFT ROBOTAXI SERVICE IN ATLANTAPhoto Credit: LyftLyft robotaxis enter the Atlanta market. Reuters reported:
Lyft and autonomous vehicle startup May Mobility will launch a pilot robotaxi service in Atlanta starting from Wednesday, the companies said, marking the partnership's first public deployment.
Customers using the standard Lyft app will be able to hail Toyota Sienna minivans retrofitted by May Mobility on routes in and around Midtown Atlanta, with fares comparable to regular rides.
The companies will start with a small fleet, with trained in-vehicle operators on board to answer questions and take control if needed.
“We'll start in the single digits of cars, move up to dozens, and over time to hundreds and thousands,” Jeremy Bird, Lyft's executive vice president of driver experience told Reuters. Neither Bird nor May Mobility CEO Edwin Olson gave a timeline for expansion.
US GOV. SUES UBER OVER DISCRIMINATIONThe US government sued Uber for discrimination over disabled passengers. The Guardian reported:
The US government sued Uber on Thursday, accusing the ride-sharing company of violating federal law by discriminating against passengers with disabilities.
In a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, the US Department of Justice said Uber drivers routinely refuse to serve riders with disabilities, including people who travel with service animals or stowable wheelchairs.
The department also said Uber and its drivers illegally charge cleaning fees for service animals, and cancellation fees to riders who are denied service.
Some drivers also allegedly insult and demean people with disabilities, or refuse reasonable requests such as letting mobility-impaired passengers sit in the front seat.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
CA drivers can unionize, a passenger can't get a ride and riders pay with cash. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
CA DRIVERS CAN FORM UNIONDrivers in California can now unionize. LA Times reported:
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers on Friday announced a landmark deal with Uber and Lyft to allow hundreds of thousands of rideshare drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while still being classified as independent contractors.
The compromise between labor unions and the Silicon Valley companies, backed by Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire, would advance a collective bargaining bill through the Legislature along with a bill backed by Uber and Lyft that would significantly reduce the companies' insurance requirements.
With support from Rivas and McGuire, both bills are expected to sail through the Legislature before the session ends in mid-September. The agreement does not apply to other types of gig workers, including those who deliver food through apps like DoorDash.
Currently, the companies must carry $1 million in coverage per rideshare driver for accidents caused by other drivers who are uninsured or underinsured. The companies have argued that current insurance requirements are so high that they encourage litigation for insurance payouts and create higher costs for passengers.
The agreement instead calls for $60,000 in uninsured motorist coverage per rideshare driver and $300,000 per accident.
DISABLED PASSENGER CAN'T GET RIDESA Chicago woman get can't rides. CBS New reported:
Becca Shrier relies on Uber to get around, only she said it's nearly impossible to find a car that will pick her up where she can reach it.
“I have been fighting for five months to be picked up on my side of the street,” she said.
Shrier uses a cane to get around, and can only stand for short periods of time.
She said, when she calls an Uber, she is only able to message a driver about her disability after arranging a ride, and most times the driver doesn't adjust their pickup spot.
Pace said it was not aware of others with this issue, and Uber did not respond with an official statement, even after CBS News Chicago spoke with company representatives on the phone and via email.
RIDERS PAY WITH CASHRiders can now pay with cash. San Francisco Chronicle reported:
To use the feature, riders must confirm their account is verified in the “Account” section of the Uber app. When requesting a trip, they can select “Cash” under payment options. At the end of the ride, the fare is paid directly to the driver.
Uber recommends bringing smaller bills, because drivers may not always carry change. If a rider overpays, the extra amount will be credited as Uber Cash to use on future rides or Uber Eats orders. If a fare isn't fully paid, the balance must be cleared in the app before another trip can be booked.
There are limits. Cash rides are not available between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and the option cannot be used for scheduled trips through Uber Reserve. Riders also can't change destinations or add stops mid-trip when paying with cash. Tips aren't supported in the app for these rides, but passengers can give drivers cash directly.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
A passenger gets assaulted, epic robotaxi fail and Uber pays $15M. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
RIDESHARE PASSENGER ASSAULTEDA rideshare passenger was assaulted in Chicago. CBS News reported:
According to Chicago police, the 29-year-old woman was assaulted in the 800 block of West Superior Street, just west of Halsted Street and close to the Bally's Chicago casino construction site, around 2:30 a.m.
Police sources said the suspected the victim was a rideshare passenger. She was taken to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital for an evaluation.
The driver of the gray Toyota Prius in which the woman had been a passenger tried to pull away and flee, but he struck a pole and was taken into police custody, police said.
“Ultimately, we want to make sure that people to have the tools necessary to arm themselves with safe practices anytime that they use a rideshare,” said Bryant Greening of Legal Rideshare, the first firm in the U.S. entirely dedicated to Uber, Lyft and other rideshare-related accident and injury claims.
“If something feels off about the ride, don't get in the car. If during the ride, something goes wrong, contact the police or contact a loved one right away,” Bryant said. “Those senses we have that something seems slightly off? They're usually right.”
TESLA ROBOTAXI FAILTesla's robotaxi has an epic fail. The Street reported.
Frank Downing and Sam Korus, two of Ark's research directors, filmed themselves taking a field trip (or a “real world use case,” as Korus puts it) in the Robotaxi in Austin.
Our Ark hero Frank Downing gets into a third Robotaxi (it's easy to keep track, since the safety monitor keeps changing), and that's when the trouble starts.
The autonomous vehicle pulls into the left turning lane on a two-way street before it glitches and starts jerking aggressively, as if it didn't know what to do next.
The video is edited after that, but from what can be gathered, the safety monitor turns on the hazard lights and calls for live support, as Tesla Robotaxis are designed for remote supervision.
The vehicle is stuck in the left turning lane despite being otherwise fully operational, as the passenger and monitor wait for tech support.
UBER EATS TO PAY $15M SETTLEMENTUber Eats pays up. King5 reported:
The company will pay $14,991,841.49 in back pay, interest, damages and civil penalties to 16,120 affected workers by Sept. 1 as part of the settlement, which was reached July 18. It will also pay the city of Seattle $33,680.26 in fines.
The first investigation found Uber Eats violated the city's Independent Contractor Protections law. A worker complained about the company's Boost promotion, where Uber Eats advertised Boost earnings multipliers during busy times and locations. It said workers could multiply their base fare by a specific number on a map and add earnings to delivery fares. However, the OLS investigation found Uber Eats didn't disclose that the Boost multiplier only applied to part of the worker's fare and that the dollar amount shown already included contributions from the promotion.
The investigation also found Uber Eats paid workers less than the amount shown on pre-work offer cards.
The majority of the settlement — more than $13 million — was related to alleged violations of the Independent Contractor Protections law.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
People wait for bots, trash-talking Tesla and delivery drivers get targeted. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
RIDERS AVOID HUMAN DRIVERSRiders are canceling rides with human drivers. Business Insider reported:
In June, the ride-hailing service started offering the option to ride in autonomous vehicles in Atlanta through Uber's partnership with Waymo. It's the latest city where the company is experimenting with robotaxis as it looks to keep up with competing offerings from rivals like Tesla and Lyft.
These driverless vehicles seem to be amassing a contingent of enthusiasts who prefer them over human drivers. While Uber users cannot guarantee that they'll get a ride in a Waymo in Atlanta, some are working the system to get paired with one.
To find a Waymo, Galesic said, he has turned down about 20 human Uber drivers on average. “The fact that it's so challenging to get has turned it into a game,” he said.
WAYMO TRASH TALKS TESLAWaymo founder has a message for Tesla: “What robotaxi?”. Electrek reported:
Waymo founder and former CEO John Krafcik is a critic of Tesla's approach to self-driving, and he has so far accurately predicted the rollout of the “Robotaxi” service.
He is now taking another dig at Tesla.
There's a Tesla employee in the front seat of every “Robotaxi” in the fleet, which is only about a dozen vehicles, based on crowdsource data, which is the only data available, as Tesla doesn't release any.
In new comments (via Business Insider), Krafcik makes it clear that he doesn't consider this to be a “robotaxi” service:
“Please let me know when Tesla launches a robotaxi — I'm still waiting. It's (rather obviously) not a robotaxi if there's an employee inside the car.”
More recently, Tesla expanded its “Robotaxi” service area to the Bay Area in California, but it again has an employee in the car, this time in the driver's seat.
Krafcik commented:
“If they were striving to re-create today's Bay Area Uber experience, looks like they've absolutely nailed it.”
IMMIGRANT DELIVERY DRIVERS ON EDGEImmigrant delivery drivers are being targeted. NBC News reported:
When his driver took longer than usual, DeSue checked the app and noticed something seemed wrong — the delivery driver's GPS location had stopped short of his address. He went outside to look for him.
“I stepped into the street, I looked down and see lights in the direction, like police lights, in the direction of where my driver was,” DeSue said in an interview. “It was my driver by himself and, like, nine different officers all wearing different uniforms. … Most of them had face coverings on.”
The men then cuff Sidi's hands, waist and feet before they put him in an unmarked car. DeSue said he has since reported the incident to Uber.
NBC News has not been able to verify the driver's full name, nationality or location, and Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday afternoon, DeSue said, an area where 15 to 20 delivery drivers typically would be parked out front of his home looking at their phones for their next orders was an empty lot.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
We chat with Attorney Bryant Greening about accidents, injuries and everything you need to know. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Lyft gets a bus, Uber loses in court and workers get targeted. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT AV SHUTTLEZoom image will be displayedCredit: LyftLyft gets autonomous shuttles. TechCrunch reported:
Lyft will add autonomous shuttles made by Austrian manufacturer Benteler Group to its network in late 2026, the company announced Friday. The shuttles will be deployed in partnership with U.S. cities and airports, according to Lyft, but could expand out from there if things go well.
The partnership will let Lyft use urban electric shuttles made by Benteler's mobility division under the Holon brand. The shuttles will not have a steering wheel or pedals and will feature inward-facing seats for up to nine seated and six standing passengers, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the Benteler partnership on Friday.
UBER VS UK SUPREME COURTZoom image will be displayedUber loses in UK court. Reuters reported:
Uber's rival taxi operators in England and Wales will not face a 20% VAT charge on their profit margins outside of London after the ride-hailing firm lost its appeal on Tuesday against a previous ruling.
Uber had sought a declaration that rival private-hire taxi operators enter into a contract with passengers, meaning operators must charge a 20% value added tax (VAT) outside London as Uber is required to do.
Uber then brought an appeal to the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday unanimously dismissed the appeal, ruling that operators are not required to enter into a contract with passengers.
UBER VS NYC COURIER RULESZoom image will be displayedUber says their immigrant workers are getting singled out. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. is pushing back on a new NYC proposal requiring delivery app workers to display company-issued identification numbers on reflective vests, saying it “singles out” immigrant workers for “heightened surveillance and control.”
The new rules, proposed Monday by Mayor Eric Adams in the name of worker safety, would mandate that companies like Uber and DoorDash Inc. issue identification cards containing a unique number alongside the name and photo of each courier. They would be required to produce it upon demand of a police officer or others “authorized by law.”
The new requirements would expose its delivery couriers, which includes 35,000 immigrant workers, “to police scrutiny — even in the absence of any violation,” said Josh Gold, an Uber spokesperson, who added that the administration did not engage with the company on the proposal. The company will engage on the rules moving forward, he said.
LA drivers targeted, Uber partners with Lucid and they're coming for your apps. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LA UBER EATS DRIVERS ROBBEDUber Eats drivers in LA are getting robbed. ABC7 reported:
During Tuesday's police commission meeting, Chief Jim McDonnell said there have been eight different incidents involving Uber Eats drivers reported this year.
He said they've also seen more taco stand robberies with five reported in the Wilshire, Hollywood and northeast L.A. areas. He said those taco stand robberies involved two male suspects.
McDonnell said officers are pursuing leads and hope to make arrests soon. Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
UBER PARTNERS WITH LUCID: ROBOTAXIS BY 2026Uber is expanding its robotaxi partners. Bloomberg reported:
Uber announced Thursday it will purchase and operate Lucid Gravity SUVs outfitted with Nuro Driver technology on its ride-sharing network. The company aims to launch the first vehicle later in 2026 in an unidentified major US city, with plans to deploy at least 20,000 of the robotaxis over six years.
The ride-sharing company also announced it's making separate multi-hundred-million dollar investments in both Lucid and Nuro. That funding will include $300 million for Lucid that will be used in part to upgrade to its assembly line to integrate Nuro hardware into the Gravity vehicles, according to the EV company.
The Lucid-Nuro deal adds to more than a dozen partnerships that Uber has announced with autonomous vehicle tech developers and carmakers, including Waymo and Volkswagen Group of America, as it aims to be the go-to commercial app for robotaxis. Earlier this week, Uber announced a partnership with Chinese AV maker Baidu to deploy robotaxis in several non-US markets. Currently autonomous rides are available through the Uber app in Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and Abu Dhabi.
UBER TRIES STOPPING GIGU/MYSTROUber is coming for your driver apps. Business Insider reported:
As gig workers' incomes have dropped, some Uber and Lyft drivers are turning to apps like GigU, Maxymo, and Mystro to help them work smarter — and dodge the lowest-paying rides.
Some of the apps have recently encountered roadblocks in the form of rideshare giants Uber and Lyft, which argue that using the third-party apps runs afoul of their terms of service.
An Uber representative said they wouldn't talk about any specific app, but said “using third-party tools to bypass the system breaks our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. It hurts riders, other drivers, and the trust that keeps Uber running.”
They aren't free, but they say drivers can increase their earnings by more than what the tools cost, which ranges from $5 to $19 a month. Some drivers have previously told BI that they can make more money if they're pickier about the rides they accept, though for Uber drivers, declining rides based on destinations can put their accounts at risk.
Now, it's the one cracking down. GigU, which launched in the United States in May, was sued by Uber in Brazil, where it says its app has been downloaded a half-million times. GigU says it has come out ahead, although Uber has said the legal process is ongoing. GigU also said it has filed an antitrust complaint against Uber with CADE, a Brazilian regulator.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Robot deliveries, Waymo arrives in Philly and teens get accounts. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER EATS ROBOTS ARE HERERobots are delivering your food. New York Post adds:
Uber has partnered with Avride to bring autonomous robots to the streets.
These delivery robots are about the size of a carry-on suitcase and can move along sidewalks at speeds of up to five miles per hour.Each robot carries up to 55 pounds of food or drinks, including large pizza orders and bottles.
With features like LIDAR, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors, the robots can detect obstacles from 200 feet away.
They recognize traffic lights and navigate crowded sidewalks with ease.
These robots work around the clock. Rain or shine, they keep moving.
Right now, Uber Eats robot delivery is live in multiple US cities.
Austin, Texas, was the first to launch the sidewalk robot program and Dallas is next.
In New Jersey, Jersey City has already rolled out the robots in neighborhoods like Hamilton Park, Historic Downtown, and the Waterfront. Some cities in Ohio are also part of the program.
Uber and Avride plan to deploy hundreds of delivery robots by the end of 2025.
WAYMO HEADS TO PHILADELPHIA AND NYCWaymo is heading to Philly. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Waymo kicked off two “road trips” to Philadelphia and New York City on Monday, signaling the Alphabet-owned company's interest in expanding into Northeastern cities.
For its Philadelphia trip, Waymo plans to place vehicles in the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and on freeways, according to a spokesperson. She noted folks will see Waymo vehicles driving “at all hours throughout various Philadelphia neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, University City, and as far east as the Delaware River.”
In NYC, Waymo will drive its cars manually in Manhattan just north of Central Park down to The Battery and parts of Downtown Brooklyn. The company will also map parts of Jersey City and Hoboken in New Jersey.
WAYMO TEEN ACCOUNTSWaymo offers teen accounts. Bloomberg reported:
Teens from 14 to 17 can have a user profile paired to a parent's account starting on Tuesday, the company said in a statement. The program will initially be available where Waymo's vehicles operate in the Metro Phoenix area. The company intends to expand teen service to other cities.
Waymo said it will have specially trained support agents available to assist teens during rides and will loop in parents during trips if needed. Parents can also track the real-time status of a trip if the teen rider opted to share it. That's a different approach compared to Uber Technologies Inc., which allows parents to be automatically notified when teens hail a ride and check trip progress at any time.
Waymo has long touted peer-reviewed research that suggests its driverless technology is better than humans at avoiding car crashes. But isolated accidents have occurred in the past — including the death of a dog — where Waymo has had to review its technology or recall its vehicles.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
New pricing punishes drivers, Tesla's bumpy start and Travis returns. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
STUDY: NEW PRICING HURTS DRIVERSUber's new dynamic pricing is hurting drivers. The Guardian reported:
Research by academics at New York's Columbia Business School concluded that the Silicon Valley company had implemented “algorithmic price discrimination” that had raised “rider fares and cut driver pay on billions of … trips, systematically, selectively, and opaquely”.
The Columbia paper, which focused on 24,532 trips made by a single US Uber driver, concluded that the introduction of the new algorithm had allowed Uber to “significantly increase its take rate — the per cent of rider fares net of driver pay captured by the company — from about 32% at the start of upfront pricing to upwards of 42% by the end of 2024”.
Last week's University of Oxford research found that, since the launch of dynamic pricing, Uber's median take rate per UK driver had “increased from 25% to 29%, and on some trips … is over 50%”.
TELSA'S MISHAPSTelsa's robotaxis are off to a bumpy start. The Verge reported:
Some are relatively minor, like failing to recognize a reversing UPS truck while trying to pull into a parking space or driving over a curb. Others are more worrisome, like briefly driving on the wrong side of the road or dropping passengers off in the middle of a busy intersection.
Several incidents involve “phantom braking,” in which the vehicle stops suddenly for seemingly no reason. Tesla's camera-only perception system has long had problems with phantom braking, appearing to misinterpret shadows, road marking, or other environmental factors, which triggers the vehicle's automatic emergency braking. The Reddit list includes three incidents of phantom braking.
But the above list suggests that not everyone's experience was so seamless. Also, the only way we know about any of these incidents is because robotaxi customers are documenting their rides and posting them on social media. Texas doesn't require any incident reporting or data sharing from Tesla — though the state did recently approve a new permitting system that could prove to be more difficult for the company to navigate. One provision allows state regulators to revoke permits if a company's autonomous vehicles are deemed a safety risk.
Keep in mind, these are the incidents that cropped up among a small fleet of 10–20 vehicles in just three days of semi-public availability. Musk has said he wants thousands of vehicles on the road within months, and perhaps “a million” by the end of next year. Imagine what the list looks like at that point.
UBER IN TALKS WITH TRAVIS KALANICKPhotograph: Danish Siddiqui/ReutersTravis returns to Uber…sorta. NY Times reported:
Uber is in talks with Travis Kalanick, the ride-hailing company's co-founder who was ousted in a boardroom coup eight years ago this month, to help fund his acquisition of the U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese autonomous vehicle company, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The company, Pony.ai, was founded in Silicon Valley in 2016 but has its main presence in China, and has permits to operate robot taxis and trucks in the United States and China.
The talks are preliminary, said the people, who were not authorized to speak about the confidential conversations. Mr. Kalanick will run Pony if the deal is completed, they said. It is unclear what role, if any, Uber would take in Pony as an investor.
If the deal goes through, Mr. Kalanick, 48, will remain in his day job running CloudKitchens, a virtual restaurant start-up that he founded after leaving Uber in 2017. He would also work more closely with Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over as Uber's chief executive after Mr. Kalanick's ouster.
Uber makes a bus, a new ordinance in Chicago and Waymos costs more. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER SHUTTLE…IS A BUSUber invented a bus. Gizmodo reported:
The ride-hailing company recently announced Route Share, in which shuttles will travel dozens of fixed routes, with fixed stops, picking up passengers and dropping them off at fixed times. Amid the inevitable jokes about Silicon Valley once again discovering buses are serious questions about what this will mean for struggling transit systems, air quality, and congestion.
But Kevin Shen, who studies this sort of thing at the Union of Concerned Scientists, questions whether Uber's “next-gen bus” will do much for commuters or the climate. “Everybody will say, ‘Silicon Valley's reinventing the bus again,'” Shen said. “But it's more like they're reinventing a worse bus.”
Meanwhile, the federal government is cutting support for public services, including transit systems — many of which still haven't fully recovered from COVID-era budget crunches. Though ridership nationwide is up to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg News recently estimated that transit systems across the country face a $6 billion budget shortfall. So it's easy to see why companies like Uber see a business opportunity in public transit.
New Chicago OrdinanceA new Chicago ordinance is up for debate. Chicago Tribune reported:
Rodriguez's ordinance would raise driver pay during rides to $1.50 per mile and 62.5 cents per minute in July 2026. It would also establish a $7 minimum driver payout for each trip.
The City Council's Workforce Development Committee, chaired by Rodriguez, is set to discuss and vote on the measure Thursday. If it passes, it could face a final vote from all aldermen next week.
In addition to pay raises, Rodriguez's ordinance would require fare breakdowns be shared with both riders and drivers. It would also add driver safety measures — like requiring passenger identities to be verified — and would reconfigure the driver disciplinary process by giving drivers a seven-day notice ahead of suspensions and details explaining why they have been deactivated.
Both Uber and Lyft blasted the potential forced pay hike Monday. Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin likened the ordinance to laws in New York City that have “forced thousands of drivers out of the app for hours at a time.”
WAYMOS ARE EXPENSIVEWaymos cost more than Uber or Lyft and riders are fine with it. TechCrunch reported:
Obi, an app that aggregates real-time pricing and pick-up times across multiple ride-hailing services, has just published what it's calling the “first in-depth examination of Waymo's pricing strategy.” The company found Waymo's self-driving car rides to be consistently more expensive than comparative offerings from Uber and Lyft — and it doesn't seem to matter.
The report, shared exclusively with TechCrunch, is based on a month's worth of data collected between March 25 and April 25 in San Francisco, California. Obi pulled nearly 90,000 “offer records” from Waymo, Lyft's “standard” offering, and UberX in order to compare price and ETA. It then compared ride requests from the same times and routes. Obi found Lyft offered the lowest average price at $14.44. Uber was next at $15.58. Waymo's average price across the month's worth of data was $20.43.
The company found that 70% of users who had taken a Waymo ride said they preferred a driverless car to a traditional rideshare or taxi.
Despite that enthusiasm, Obi found that safety is still a big concern for riders. Of those surveyed, 74% said safety is their biggest concern about robotaxis. Nearly 70% of respondents said they think there should be some form of remote human monitoring of the rides (something that is already a common practice).
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft gets cheaper, Tesla goes rental and Chicago cracks down. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT SHARED RIDESLyft is bringing back shared rides. Bloomberg reported:
Lyft Inc. is bringing back cheaper shared trips at airports, reversing a decision made two years ago to discontinue the ride option as it seeks to compete with rival Uber Technologies Inc. in courting inflation-weary consumers.
Lyft is currently piloting shared rides at eight US airports, including Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with those trips receiving as much as a 20% discount compared with a regular Lyft, said company spokesperson Jill Gonzalez, confirming an inquiry from Bloomberg News. Two passengers at those airports going in a similar direction can be picked up in the same car, according to a screenshot posted by a driver on the social media site X.
Lyft and Uber have been introducing affordability-focused product updates to respond to worsening consumer sentiment, which has soured on concerns about the broader economy. A Gridwise report in February showed that a majority of customers would curb or cut out ride-hails if Uber and Lyft prices in the US increased further beyond a 7.2% jump in 2024.
RENT-A-TESLAElon Musk says there's no need to buy Uber. Business Insider reported:
Musk told CNBC that he envisions a world where, instead of calling an Uber, you can call an autonomous Tesla to get you to your destination without a dedicated driver.
Musk's proposed business model would allow Tesla drivers to rent out their cars for autonomous ride-hailing, “just like” one can rent out a spare bedroom through Airbnb.
Representatives for Tesla and Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Tesla has not yet unveiled the commercial version of its Full Self-Driving software, called FSD Unsupervised. This software will be used in its robotaxi fleet and does not require a driver behind the wheel like its personal vehicles.
When asked by Faber whether Tesla needed to make any improvements or changes to its technology or fleet in order to prepare to launch a large-scale robotaxi service, Musk demurred.
“I don't think we're missing anything,” Musk said. “Tesla has all the ingredients necessary to offer a vast self-driving fleet.”
CHICAGO COMBATS OVERCHARGINGCredit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoAfter the ongoing issue with Uber's congestion fees, the city and organizations are fighting back. Block Club Chicago reported:
Backlash to Uber overcharging customers a city congestion fee has revived local and state efforts to regulate the rideshare industry.
A state bill requiring companies to provide an itemized list of fees before a purchase — or include it in the total advertised price — sailed through the Senate and a key House of Representatives committee Tuesday. And on Wednesday, a City Council member pledged to hold a hearing into Uber's overcharging of the city's Downtown congestion fee — while rideshare drivers rallied for more workplace protections.
The state bill stalled previously as lawsuits with food delivery apps were settled over hidden fees. But Block Club's reporting on Uber wrongfully charging the city's $1.50 per ride Downtown “congestion” surcharge outside of permitted hours has convinced more lawmakers to support the bill this time around, said Rep. Bob Morgan, its chief sponsor in the House. It is now heading to a full floor vote in the House.
Uber admitted in April it had errantly applied the congestion surcharge on rides to and from Downtown taken outside the city-permitted surcharge hours of 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Uber began refunding customers earlier this month, but the company still won't say how much is owed to Chicagoans in total.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo recalls cars, GigU comes to America and Tesla falls behind. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO RECALLS 1200 VEHICLESWaymo recalls more than 1200 vehicles after minor collisions. Reuters reported:
Waymo is recalling more than 1,200 self-driving vehicles to update software and address risks of collisions with chains, gates and other roadway barriers after U.S. auto safety investigators opened a probe last year.
The recall affects 1,212 Waymo vehicles operating on the company's fifth-generation automated driving system software, the company said.
Waymo said it was aware of 16 collisions with chains, gates and other barriers between 2022 and late 2024. But the incidents did not result in any injuries, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
NHTSA opened an investigation into the performance of Waymo self-driving vehicles in May 2024 after reports of its robotaxis exhibiting driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws.
The agency said several incidents under investigation “involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid.” The investigation remains open.
GIGU COMES TO AMERICAGigU, an app to help drivers make more money comes to America. Business Insider reported:
An app launching in the US on Wednesday has drawn ire from Uber in the past after helping gig workers answer a key question: Which rides and deliveries make the most financial sense to take?
GigU uses information that independent contractors see on-screen when they are offered a gig to calculate an estimate of how much the worker will earn per mile and at an hourly rate.
The feature, which GigU calls the “cherry picker,” is designed to help drivers and delivery workers accept or reject a job within the seconds-long window that most apps give them, its founders say. The app works with only Android phones for now.
In GigU, users can set specific ranges for pay and, for ride-hailing gigs, passenger ratings. Based on those settings, GigU assigns a color to orders or rides as they pop up on screen: Green for a job that would be the most lucrative for the driver, yellow for options with earnings that mostly fall between the ranges that users set, and red for a job that doesn't meet their goals.
An Uber spokesperson said that “using automation tools, apps, or bots to manipulate the Uber app or access Uber data in any way isn't allowed” per its community guidelines and terms of service. Uber is still “engaged on the legal front in Brazil” with GigU and StopClub, the spokesperson added.
GigU's founders say that their app merely takes information that the gig worker already sees and presents it in a more analytical context. From there, it's up to the gig worker to make a choice, they said.
TESLA'S ROBOTAXI SERVICE FALLS BEHINDTesla's robotaxi service is falling behind. Futurism reported:
As The Information reports, the company is already woefully behind schedule and hasn't even started testing its autonomous vehicles without a safety driver as of April.
And the company is quickly running out of time. Musk promised that Tesla would launch an autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin in a matter of weeks — a characteristically overly ambitious promise.
The Texas Department of Public Safety hasn't even received a plan for what would happen in case of an emergency from Tesla.
As The Information points out, it took Waymo a decade to complete detailed maps of each city to allow its fleet of fully autonomous vehicles to roam the streets safely. It took months of having a human safety driver behind the wheel before its operation could go fully driverless.
Tesla has chosen a completely different approach, relying on its loyal customers to accumulate driving data. A Tesla engineer told The Information that the carmaker is struggling with “mundane operational problems,” like getting cars unstuck and providing customer service.
Experts have also raised safety concerns about Tesla's decision to exclusively rely on cameras, unlike its competitors, like Waymo, which rely on more precise sensors, like radar and LIDAR.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Chicago investigates Uber, bots versus humans and Tesla hits a roadblock. LegalRideshare breaks it down
CHICAGO INVESTIGATES UBERChicago is investigating Uber. Block Club Chicago reported:
The city has opened an investigation into Uber after Block Club Chicago reported the company overcharged riders the city's congestion surcharge for months.
The city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection received a complaint for “ride-hail overcharges” in early April and have now opened an investigation, a department spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not provide further details.
An Uber spokesperson said the “internal error” started in January after the city expanded the congestion surcharge to include weekends as a budget-balancing measure. Uber has paid the city the total sum of the surcharges, the spokesperson said.
But Uber has yet to answer Block Club's follow-up questions about how the refunds will be sent or how much, in total, was wrongly taken from customers.
Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said he's heard from constituents who were overcharged for Uber rides, which they realized after checking receipts following Block Club's report Wednesday.
“This didn't just happen. How it continued unabated for a length of time is the point of this investigation,” Hopkins said. “The level of oversight rideshare companies operate under, it's just a shadow of what still exists for the taxi industry. That is a tragic government failure, and this is one symptom of that problem.”
ROBOTAXIS ARE 99% BUSIER THAN DRIVERSRobotaxis are outpacing human drivers. Business Insider reported:
Uber passengers in Austin seemingly can't get enough of Waymo's robotaxis, with the 100 or so Waymo vehicles operating on the Uber app already busier than the human drivers they share the road with.
“These approximately 100 vehicles are now busier than over 99% of all drivers in Austin in terms of completed trips per day,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks after Uber announced its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
Khosrowshahi said the two companies plan to scale their autonomous fleet in Austin to “hundreds” of Waymos in the coming months, ahead of the launch of Waymo's robotaxis on the Uber app in Atlanta later this year.
Thanks to its hands-off regulations, Austin has become a hotspot for autonomous vehicles. In March, Uber began offering Waymo vehicles exclusively on its app for the first time in the city.
TESLA'S TRADEMARKS GET STOPPEDTesla's trademarks hit a road block. TechCrunch reported:
Tesla's attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi” in reference to its vehicles has been refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too generic, according to a new filing. Another application by Tesla to trademark the term “Robotaxi” for its upcoming ride-hailing service is still under examination by the office.
In addition, applications from Tesla for the trademark on the term “Cybercab” have been halted due to other companies pursuing similar “Cyber” trademarks. That includes one company that has applied for numerous trademarks related to aftermarket Cybertruck accessories.
Tesla will be allowed to submit evidence and arguments to support its argument in favor of the trademark. If it does, the USPTO wants Tesla to provide “[f]act sheets, instruction manuals, brochures, advertisements and pertinent screenshots of applicant's website as it relates to the goods and/or services in the application, including any materials using the terms in the applied-for mark.”
In other words, Tesla needs to give the agency specific plans for how and why it deserves the “Robotaxi” trademark.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft gets taxis, a recession makes Uber cheaper and riders get overcharged. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT GETS TAXISLyft will start dispatching taxis. Bloomberg reported:
Lyft Inc. will begin dispatching standard taxis to some US riders starting next month in a first as it expands its features to compete with much-larger rival Uber Technologies Inc.
The rollout will begin in St. Louis on May 5 for riders who have opted in to taxis as an alternative to gig drivers in rideshare vehicles. Such users may be picked up in a cab when they request Lyft Standard, “Wait & Save” or priority pickup rides, the company confirmed to Bloomberg News.
The upcoming feature was discovered within code found inside of Lyft's mobile app. The code indicates opted-in users will be matched with a licensed taxi when the pickup is faster. Like with a regular rideshare trip, users will be able to pay, tip and submit a rating within the Lyft app.
RECESSION MAKES UBER CHEAPERA recession could make your ride cheaper. Business Insider reported:
If the economy enters a recession, more people could sign up to drive and deliver for Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi said on Friday.
“If there is more unemployment, the cost of Uber will come down, because, to some extent, the cost of labor comes down,” Khosrowshahi said at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington, D.C.
Khosrowshahi said that Uber tends to be “recession-resistant” since many people still want groceries, restaurant delivery, rides around town, and other “everyday use cases” — even if they cut back spending in other areas.
“You may put off going on vacation in Europe this summer, but you're still going to treat your family to a nice dinner,” he said. “We specialize in small treats, not big treats."
UBER OVERCHARGED RIDERSUber overcharged riders. Block Club Chicago reported:
New rules went into affect Jan. 6 that allowed rideshare companies to charge a $1.50 congestion surcharge for all rides to and from Downtown 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, with the revenue benefitting the city. But customers since then have noticed they've been charged the fee outside those hours.
After Block Club Chicago reached out to Uber about the discrepancy, the company is now promising refunds.
Marty Regan was one of the customers overcharged. When he checked his Uber receipt after a recent late-night ride home in the West Loop, he caught the $1.50 congestion surcharge tagged on his fare even though it was after hours.
“You can't look at all the taxes and fees when you book a ride,” Regan said. “It's a money grab at worst.”
Uber is now “actively identifying all affected customers and will issue refunds accordingly,” spokesperson Josh Gold said. The surcharge fees, including the overcharges, were collected by Uber and paid to the city in accordance with rideshare regulations, Gold said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber sued by the FTC, Uber threatens to leave and VW goes AV. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER SUED BY FTCUber is being sued by the FTC. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. was sued by the US Federal Trade Commission, which claims the rideshare and delivery company hurt consumers through “deceptive billing and cancellation practices” as part of its flagship subscription service.
In a complaint filed Monday, the FTC alleges the company charged consumers for its Uber One product without their consent, misled users about the program's savings and made it “unreasonably” burdensome to cancel the service. The agency found users can be required to navigate as many as 23 screens and take up to 32 actions to cancel, according to an FTC statement.
The company denied the FTC's claims, saying the company doesn't sign up or charge consumers without their consent, and that cancellations now take most people 20 seconds or less. “We are disappointed that the FTC chose to move forward with this action, but are confident that the courts will agree with what we already know: Uber One's sign-up and cancellation processes are clear, simple, and follow the letter and spirit of the law,” a spokesman said.
UBER THREATENS TO LEAVE COLORADOUber is threatening to leave Colorado. Axios reported:
A bill moving through Colorado's legislature could force major changes to how rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft operate — and Uber says if it passes, it may have to shut down service in the state.
House Bill 1291 would require stricter safety measures for rideshare drivers, including mandatory dash cameras, audio recordings of rides, and a ban on driving after using marijuana. The proposal also includes increased driver accountability standards.
Uber officials say they support improved safety but argue that the bill, as written, is impossible to enforce.
Blinick also raised concerns about legal liability, saying the bill could make the company responsible for even minor driver actions, such as offering a passenger a water bottle.
Legal experts say Uber's concerns center on potential lawsuits.
Riders themselves are split on the proposal — some say additional safety measures would provide peace of mind, while others worry about losing convenient transportation options.
UBER & VOLKSWAGEN PARTNER TO DEPLOY AVSCredit: VolkswagenUber and Volkswagen are partnering up to deploy AVs. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. and Volkswagen AG have partnered to deploy thousands of electric ID Buzz vans in the US, marking the latest partnership to expand autonomous options on the ride hailing app.
The companies will begin testing the vans on roads later this year and plan a commercial launch next year in Los Angeles, they said in a statement on Thursday. During initial testing, a human operator will be inside of the vehicles. The launch will take place in stages and only proceed following necessary regulatory approvals. The partnership is planned to expand to other major US markets over the next decade.
Volkswagen has been testing its ID Buzz vans with human operators in Austin. Those vehicles are outfitted with autonomous driving software made by Intel Corp. spinoff Mobileye Global Inc. For deployment of the vehicles on the Uber platform, Volkswagen is using a system developed by its MOIA brand.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
US students detained, a losing bet and black-market accounts. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
US STUDENTS DETAINED IN DENMARKTwo US students are being held in Denmark. CNN reported:
Two US college students were arrested and detained for two weeks in Denmark after an alleged altercation with an Uber driver, local police said Tuesday.
The alleged incident took place around 2 a.m. on March 31 (8 p.m. ET on March 30) after Owen Ray and a friend were returning from a night out in the Danish capital at the end of a spring break in Europe.
Ray and his friend, who has not been named, had ordered an Uber to return to their hotel but realized they had selected the wrong destination, according to family spokesperson Erin Pelton. Unable to update the location in the Uber app, they canceled the ride.
The canceled fare was automatically paid via the app, said Pelton. The driver, however, did not believe he had been paid and allegedly began threatening the students.
Speaking to ABC's “Good Morning America,” Ray said that the driver got out of the car and started yelling that he hadn't been paid, threatening to “call 10 guys.” Ray added, “We did nothing wrong — we were the victims of an attack.”
The incident was captured on the Uber driver's dash cam, which is now part of the court case in Denmark, Pelton told CNN.
Copenhagen police told CNN that the students were brought before a court on the same day, facing charges of common assault.
Uber told CNN that the driver reported that the two students started fighting in the back of the car and later assaulted him after the trip had ended. The driver subsequently called the authorities. A company spokesperson said in a statement, “The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously.”
CYBERCAB: TESLA'S LOSING BETTesla's cybercab looks like a losing bet. Electrek reported:
According to a credible new report, Elon Musk has reportedly shut down an internal analysis from Tesla executives that showed the company's Robotaxi plans would lose money and that it should focus on its more affordable ‘Model 2'.
The executives pointed to an internal report that didn't paint a good picture of Tesla's Robotaxi plan. The report has credibility as Patel commented on it.
Musk dismissed the analysis, greenlighted the Cybercab, and killed the $25,000 driveable Tesla vehicle in favor of the Model Y-based cheaper vehicle with fewer features.
After accounting for competition, Tesla figured it would be hard for robotaxis to replace the ~600,000 vehicles it sells in the US annually.
Furthermore, Tesla's internal analysis pointed toward difficulties expanding into other markets, which could limit the scale and profitability of the robotaxi program. Ultimately, it predicted that it could lose money for years.
BLACK-MARKET UBER ACCOUNTSDrivers are buying black market accounts on Facebook. Fortune reported:
A new report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) is raising new safety concerns about Facebook, accusing the social-media company of hosting several “black market” pages where people can buy or rent driver accounts for a number of consumer-facing companies.
As many as 800,000 Facebook users belong to 80 groups the TTP identified that let users trade driver accounts for Uber, DoorDash, and other ride-share and delivery companies. That lets people acquire the accounts without going through the screening process drivers are normally subjected to. And it raises both safety concerns for customers and fears of possible identity theft for riders or people who place orders.
“Renting” an Uber Eats account, according to a Jan. 3, 2025 post, went for as little as $65. Most people listing accounts asked prospective renters or buyers to contact them directly, to keep the dealings out of public view.
TTP said the existence of these groups indicated content moderation on Facebook was not being properly enforced, as many of the accounts had obvious names such as “Doordash & Uber Account For Rent And Sell Group.” (Facebook denied the issue had anything to do with the enforcement changes it announced in January.)
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers look to unionize, Waymo gets ads and the truth behind robotaxis. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MINNESOTA LOOKS TO UNIONIZEDrivers in Minnesota are looking to unionize. Kare11 reported:
Minnesota legislators introduced two bills Wednesday that would allow rideshare drivers to form a union.
Minnesota legislators settled on a rideshare rate of $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute, with a minimum ride charge of $5.
A separate law went into effect in December 2024 that enforces a minimum pay level for transportation network drivers. Both Uber and Lyft threatened to pull out of the state if even higher pay rates mandated by the Minneapolis City Council had taken hold.
If these two new bills pass, rideshare drivers would be able to unionize and bargain for additional pay and benefits. Bill authors Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL-District 63) and Rep. Samakab Hussein (DFL-District 65A) introduced the two bills in the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday.
WAYMO RIDES COME WITH ADSYour Waymo ride may be coming with ads. The Street reported:
It's not news that Waymo records the data from its rides and has cameras inside its vehicles. After all, this is very new technology. The company carefully monitors rides to learn how to improve its product while ensuring customers have an optimal experience.
In her post, Wong shows a screengrab, saying, “Waymo is working on Generative AI training using ‘interior camera data associated with rider's identity,' provides opt-outs for this and data sharing under CCPA. Waymo explicitly states in this unreleased Privacy page [that] it may share your data for personalized ads.”
Waymo reached out to TheStreet with a comment from a spokesperson, saying, “Waymo uses interior camera data to train models on safety, ensure cars are clean, find lost items, provide help in case of emergency, ensure rider rules are followed, and improve our service. The feature, which is still under development, will not introduce any changes to Waymo's Privacy Policy, but rather will offer riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection for ML training purposes.”
ROBOTAXIS AND DRIVERSWhat do robotaxis mean for drivers? Axios reported:
As robotaxi services begin to spread across America, ride-hailing drivers could worry that they'll be pushed aside in favor of robots — or at least that their incomes will shrink.
Drivers on both networks earn about $23 per hour, according to Gridwise Analytics, which collects driver data to track the gig economy. So far, the presence of robotaxis in San Francisco, LA and Phoenix hasn't affected ride-hailing drivers much, Gridwise found.
By 2040, S&P Global Mobility is projecting 15 billion ride-hailing trips a year in the U.S., up from 3.6 billion in 2024. About half of those trips will be in robotaxis; the other half will still be driven by humans.
Hybrid network: Some riders will select robotaxis, but others will still prefer a human driver for extra assistance or premium service.
The bottom line: The ride-hailing pie is still growing, and robotaxis aren't going to eat it all.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The cost of deactivations, Cybercabs are coming and all eyes on Uber. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
THE COST OF DEACTIVATIONSDeactivations take a serious toll on drivers. NY Times reported:
Steve McDougall earned about $900 a week delivering for Uber Eats and DoorDash, whizzing through the heavy traffic of Gloucester, Mass., on an e-bike. The flexible hours allowed him to tend to his 15-year-old daughter and two parents with disabilities.
In November 2023, he received an email from Uber notifying him that his account had been deactivated. It cited “fraudulent activity,” but did not elaborate. He immediately appealed.
Three months later, Uber sent Mr. McDougall an email stating that a review concluded that activity on his account “was fraudulent” and did not reactivate his account. He had completed 1,720 deliveries on the app over more than three years. Relying just on DoorDash deliveries, his income dropped to $500 on a good week, he said.
The little existing research on deactivations indicates that they are surprisingly common. A 2023 survey of app drivers conducted by a coalition of labor groups found that 40 percent had been deactivated at some point. In another survey of more than 800 California drivers, two-thirds said they had faced deactivation.
CYBERCABS IN AUSTINCybercabs come to Austin. City Magazine reported:
Elon Musk revealed during his Q4 2024 earnings call that Austin will be the first location for fully autonomous driving. He called it a “cautious first step” — a place where Tesla can demonstrate in real-world conditions that its technology is safer than a human.
The June service in Austin will be the first to operate entirely without human supervision — meaning there will be no safety driver behind the wheel or remote control. The system will be based on camera data, artificial intelligence and an extensive database of real-world traffic situations that Tesla has been collecting for more than 8 years.
Tesla predicts it could have hundreds of driverless taxis on American roads by the end of 2025. Elon Musk even goes so far as to predict that the car will soon earned more than its owner — an idea based on a future vision of a shared economy with autonomous vehicles.
MONITORING UBER/LYFT RIDESA new Colorado bill proposes all rides should be monitored. CPR reported:
Drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft would be required to continuously record video and audio throughout every ride under a passenger safety bill that gets its first hearing at the State Capitol Thursday.
The requirement is one of several proposed changes to the Transportation Company Consumer Protection Act that will be proposed at the public hearing. Sponsors say the hope is that the recordings will help rideshare companies verify drivers' identities while they're working and provide evidence to investigate passenger complaints.
The bill requires rideshare companies to pay for, and install, the recording systems. It also bans drivers from offering their riders food or drink.
Lobbying disclosures show that Uber opposes the bill, as do the ACLU of Colorado and the Colorado Competitive Council, a business group. Supporters include the AARP and the Colorado Women's Bar Association.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
We chat with Lenny Sanchez, Illinois Chapter Director of Independent Drivers Guild about what IDG is, what is does and how it helps drivers. #caraccident #personalinjury #rideshare #uber #lyft #doordash #injury #gigworkerattorneys #legalrideshare #instacart #uberlawyer #lyftlawyer #uberinjury #lyftinjury #podcast #deactivations .:: LEGALRIDESHARE WEBSITE ::. https://www.legalrideshare.com/ .:: SOCIAL MEDIA ::. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@legalrideshare Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LegalRideshare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legalrideshare/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@legalrideshare Twitter (X): https://x.com/LegalRideshare .:: Spotify Audio Podcast (consider leaving a review) ::. https://open.spotify.com/show/6I4cCdm... .:: Apple Audio Podcast (consider leaving a review) ::. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... .:: ABOUT LEGALRIDESHARE ::. LegalRideshare is the only law firm dedicated entirely to helping injured drivers, riders and victims after rideshare accidents and injuries. CONSULTATIONS ARE ALWAYS FREE. .:: GigU Giveaway!::. GigU is the ultimate high-performance tool designed to help drivers maximize their earnings and work smarter. Join the final testing phase and get one year of GigU free, plus $20 for your feedback. Available only for Android. https://beta.gigu.co/
Waymo heads to the airport, an Uber Teen crash, and drivers fight a ban. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO COMES TO SAN FRANSISCO AIRPORTCredit: WaymoWaymo is heading to the airport. Mission Local reported:
Multiple sources have confirmed that Mayor Daniel Lurie's administration has struck a deal with Waymo to let the autonomous vehicle company into San Francisco International Airport to “map” its environs for future autonomous use.
The move is a precursor to full service by robo-taxis at SFO, which would allow passengers to hail the driverless cars and be dropped off by them at the Bay Area's busiest airport, a financial boon for the company and the crown jewel in its Bay Area expansion plan in San Francisco, the Peninsula and the South Bay.
SFO would become the first airport across California where Waymo can operate, but it came at a cost to the company, which agreed to several concessions to obtain the needed permit.
Namely, Waymo will not be allowed to engage in any commercial activity at the airport, and it will share some data with the San Francisco city government. The nature and extent of the data sharing is not yet clear.
UBER TEEN CRASHAn Uber Teen crash raises serious concerns. NBC4 reported:
A Reno family is raising concerns about the safety of Uber's ride-sharing service for teenagers after a harrowing incident involving their 15-year-old son, Huck Zander.
On February 8, Huck used the Uber Teen service to travel to Mt. Rose Ski Resort. However, the ride took a dangerous turn when the driver allegedly snorted a substance and passed out, causing the car to crash.
Uber for teens promotes itself as a service with “highly rated” and “experienced” drivers who undergo thorough background checks. However, Laura found this misleading. “Technically it says highly rated drivers, not highly vetted,” she said.
DRIVERS DEMAND BAN GET LIFTEDDrivers banned at the airport are demanding reinstatement. WSMV 4 reported:
The Tennessee Drivers Union (TDU) will deliver a letter today to the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board demanding the drivers who were banned from working at the airport be reinstated.
The Airport Authority reportedly banned 34 drivers from picking up riders at Nashville International Airport (BNA) after they participated in a protest in February 2025. It was the largest ban on drivers for protesting in ridesharing history, according to the announcement.
The protest was executed on February 14, Valentine's Day, at BNA and was part of a global strike where drivers refused to accept rides.
In Tennessee, the TDU used the strike to urge Tennessee State Legislators to pass House Bill 0879, which bans out-of-state drivers from working in Nashville.
In the message to drivers, Uber claimed the ban was due to the driver picking up riders in the arrivals terminal. This message was sent to people who weren't driving their cars during the protest, according to TDU.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft helps the elderly, Waymo expands and the court goes after Uber. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT HELPS ELDERLY RIDERSLyft is simplifying the app for elderly riders. Bloomberg reported:
Dubbed “Lyft Silver,” the new mode would include a user experience “designed for seniors with a simple new look” and “easy access to support,” according to a Bloomberg News review of the app's publicly available iOS code. The offering, which has not been previously reported, would also let older users share ride details with a contact and use digital gift cards sent by people they know.
Lyft has been seeking new ways to deepen user loyalty and win over customers from Uber. The two companies, both based in San Francisco, have a long history of trying to undercut each other on price while also introducing similar features. Uber recently began working on “price lock pass,” Bloomberg reported, months after Lyft launched a feature by the same name that guarantees a certain rate for a regular route. Lyft has said that its product has been popular with riders.
Uber has similarly been adapting its ride-hailing service to specific use cases. Last May, Uber introduced a caregiver offering, letting caretakers pay for, reserve and track Uber rides for their loved ones. That product is similar to Uber Teens, an account type introduced in 2023 that allows children under 18 to order their own rides with highly rated drivers. Parents can supervise those rides remotely.
WAYMO EXPANDS TO SILICON VALLEYWaymo expands to Silicon Valley. SF Gate reported:
The company announced on Tuesday that it's opening up its fared rides in a new 27-square-mile stretch of the Peninsula, including most of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos and a small wedge of Sunnyvale. Waymo's new service map won't yet be connected to its San Francisco network, but the expansion brings self-driving cars to the heart of Silicon Valley.
Waymo will first offer rides to “select Waymo One riders who live in the service area,” with a plan to expand that group “gradually,” spokesperson Ethan Teicher told SFGATE. An employee wrote on X that users can open the app in the service area to join a waitlist.
The company's white robotaxis also carry riders in Los Angeles and Phoenix, and it's rolling out tests in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami and Austin, Texas, the Verge reported in January. Cold-weather cities aren't getting totally left out: The outlet wrote that last year, Waymo sent some cars to Truckee, California, upstate New York and Michigan for testing.
1600 SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES AGAINST UBERA court allows 1600 assault cases against Uber. LA Times reported:
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that more than 1,600 sexual assault cases against Uber will be allowed to continue before a single San Francisco judge, a move with far-reaching implications for the ride-hailing app and its cohort in Silicon Valley.
The decision issued Monday upholds an earlier ruling by a council of federal judges appointed to centralize civil suits from across the country.
Experts said the litigation is being followed closely by home-sharing platforms, dog-walking services and other “independent-contractor” apps, which have also been hit with stacks of sexual assault liability claims, along with Uber's main competitor, Lyft.
Hundreds of rape survivors claim the tech giant skimped on driver background checks, failed to report sexual violence to police and allowed sex offenders to drive for the company — all while banking millions in “rider safety fees.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers banned from the airport, a brutal attack and Uber works with unions. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS BANNED FROM NASHVILLE AIRPORTDrivers protesting at the Nashville airport have been banned. Common Dreams adds:
A Tennessee union announced Monday that 34 Uber and Lyft drivers received messages “informing them that they had been permanently banned” from working at Nashville's airport after joining scores of workers for a peaceful caravan there last month to support a state bill that would impact the companies.
The Tennessee Drivers Union (TDU) said in a statement that some participants, “including those in the passenger's seat not driving,” were banned from providing rides at Nashville International Airport following the February 14 action, during which “participating Uber and Lyft drivers had their apps turned off."
TDU said Monday that “this retaliation isn't a mistake,” arguing that “Uber and Lyft are threatened” by Tennessee House Bill 879/Senate Bill 818, introduced last month by state Rep. Rush Bricken (R-47) and Sen. Joey Hensley (R-28).
DRIVER ASSAULTED AND ROBBEDA Chicago rideshare driver who was assaulted and robbed demands better rider verification. CBS News reported:
A grandmother from Chicago's northern suburbs is recovering from a brutal attack while she was on the job for Uber.
Melissa, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said her passengers, four young men, violently attacked her before stealing her car. She said attack could have been avoided with a simple setting change in the Uber app.
It's a setting she and many other rideshare drivers said puts them in danger, where they have no idea who is entering their car, because passengers don't need to verify their identity.
In this case Melissa picked up the passengers in the early hours of Friday in Highland Park and headed to North Chicago.
It's a ride she has done thousands of times, being on the job for Uber for nearly four years.
UBER SIGNS NEUTRALITY AGREEMENTUber is working with a union. CBS News reported:
Negotiations over a proposed Chicago ordinance for better pay and protections for rideshare drivers could be upended.
Uber confirmed it signed a “neutrality agreement” with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. The deal creates another path to better pay benefits, but workers would still be classified as “independent contractors.”
A spokesperson for Uber said, on Friday, the agreement means that “the company will not interfere with the union's campaign to organize drivers.”
They also would not have the same labor law protections as full-time employees.
Uber confirmed the deal, but didn't comment on the deal.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Flaws in Uber's safety system, how Americans feel about AVs, and Telsa targets California. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
FLAWS IN UBERS SAFETYDrivers in Milwaukee have concerns over the disconnect with Uber's safety protocol. FOX 6 reported:
Uber drivers in dangerous situations can normally use a safety feature in the app that connects them to help and police. But that's not the case for Milwaukee drivers.
He said the woman started screaming about getting her money back and her mother joined in from outside the car.
It looks like she was waving a gun in the air, and she says, “Get the f out of my neighborhood,'” he said. “I was lost, like, this is a scary life or death matter. I got to get out of here.”
The driver said he hit the emergency button in the app. ADT Security answered and told him that because he was in Milwaukee, they couldn't contact the police for him, but sent him a link to call Uber.
ADT sent this statement, saying in part, “due to a local ordinance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is not specific to Uber, ADT is unable to directly contact 911 on behalf of Uber users in the city.”
They say they're referring to a specific ordinance that cites a burglar alarm policy. The policy doesn't specifically mention rideshare apps, but it does say police will respond to verified alarms.
HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT AVSHow do American feel about self-driving cars? Mashable explains:
A convincing majority of Americans remain “afraid” to ride in self-driving vehicles, according to a survey released today by AAA.
A January survey of 1,095 people found that 61 percent do not trust self-driving vehicles (that survey question didn't differentiate between semi-autonomous cars, like some Tesla models, and fully autonomous cars, like Waymo robotaxis). Conversely, 13 percent trust self-driving vehicles and 26 percent are unsure of their safety.
AAA also queried its panel specifically on robotaxis, finding that 74 percent knew that self-driving rideshare cars were available in certain cities, yet 53 percent said they would not ride in one. While Millennial and Generation X drivers were more receptive to robotaxis than Baby Boomers, majorities of the younger generations still said they wouldn't ride in such a vehicle.
TESLA AIMS FOR CATesla is gearing up to dive into the CA market. Bloomberg reported:
Tesla Inc. is seeking approval to offer ride-hailing services in California, a key step by Elon Musk's company to begin carrying paying customers while its traditional car-selling business falters.
The electric vehicle manufacturer applied late last year for what's known as a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, according to documents viewed by Bloomberg. That classification means Tesla would own and control the fleet of vehicles.
In its communications with California officials, Tesla discussed driver's license information and drug-testing coordination, suggesting the company intends to use human drivers, at least initially. Tesla is applying for the same type of permit used by Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s robotaxi business. While Tesla has approval to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver in California, it doesn't have, nor has applied for, a driverless testing or deployment permit from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles, according to a spokesperson.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Tesla would obtain the California Public Utilities Commission permit or when the service might start. A spokesperson said in an emailed statement that Tesla's application “is pending and not yet public.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers create an own app, Uber drops commission and earnings are down. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS CREATE THEIR OWN APPDrivers are fighting Uber by launching their own apps. Business Insider reported:
Sperry and several hundred fellow drivers in San Diego are exploring forming a cooperative. Instead of driving for the established apps, Sperry said, they would set up their own app, elect leaders to manage it, and create transparent policies around issues such as deactivating drivers.
In some cities, driver co-ops already exist.
In New York City, The Drivers Cooperative has been offering rides since 2021.
Another, Drivers Co-op Colorado, launched last September. The co-op has about 16,000 drivers, and it guarantees them 80% of each fare that riders pay. Many ride-hailing drivers say they get paid less than half of the fare on other apps. The co-op's promise also represents a greater share than Lyft, which says it pays drivers 70% of the weekly rider payments they earn after fees.
ZERO COMISSION FOR UBER IN INDIAUber has adopted a new model for drivers in India. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Ride-hailing platform Uber has moved to a zero-commission model for its autorickshaw drivers in India and will instead charge them a subscription fee, mirroring a strategy followed by local rivals as competition intensifies.
Uber said it will now only connect users with nearby drivers and will suggest a fare but the final amount would be decided by the driver and the rider, the company said in a blog post.
A company spokesperson said the company made the shift as it did not want “to be at a competitive disadvantage”.
GIG WORKERS WORKED MORE / EARNED LESS IN 2024Gig workers worked more but earned less in 2024. Business Insider reported:
Uber hide-hailing drivers saw their earnings for 2024 fall 3.4% on average to $513 a week, according to a study released Tuesday by data analytics company Gridwise. At the same time, Uber drivers worked 0.8% more hours in 2024.
Lyft drivers, meanwhile, worked 5.4% fewer hours in 2024, but saw their pay decline at a faster clip of 13.9% to $318 a week.
Meantime at DoorDash, gross weekly earnings rose 4.8% to $240 in 2024. Hourly earnings for those on the app fell, though, as the number of hours that gig workers spent on the app rose 5.2%.
Tips were much less significant for ride-hailing drivers, Gridwise found. Gratuities made up just 10.4% of earnings, per the report.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free
Waymo barrels through a pothole, Lyft eyes robotaxis and riders pay more. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMOS & POTHOLESWaymos went full speed through a pothole. Road & Track reported:
Waymo's driverless fleet of Jaguar I-Paces tend to perform exceedingly well in normal driving situations — but a pothole in the middle of a San Francisco intersection found a weak point in its programming.
Video from local TV station ABC 7 News Bay Area posted to YouTube last week shows one of Waymo's self-driving car absolutely sending it through a large pothole that formed at Lombard and Gough Street. The water-filled holes in the road — estimated to be a five-by-four-foot gap — look suspicious enough that a (reasonably intelligent) human would pause before driving through at full speed … but they probably just looked like big puddles to the sensor and LiDAR-festooned Waymo vehicles.
The news report claims the autonomous vehicle caught on camera was just one of several Waymos ABC 7 saw slamming across the hole before construction crews could properly block it off from traffic. As depicted in the report, you can see that crews fully coned off the area eventually — which is likely all that needed to happen to keep Waymos from trying to barge through.
LYFT TO ROLL OUT ROBOTAXIS BY 2026Lyft is rolling out robotaxis by 2026. Reuters reported:
Feb 10 (Reuters) — U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft (LYFT.O), opens new tab plans to launch “as soon as 2026” fully autonomous robotaxis in Dallas, powered by Mobileye's technology (MBLY.O), opens new tab, CEO David Risher said on Monday.
Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate with experience managing fleets, will own and finance the Mobileye-equipped vehicles that will show up on the Lyft app, Risher said in a post on X.
$15 AIRPORT FEE FOR MA RIDERSMassachusetts is eyeing a $15 airport fee for riders. Boston Globe reported:
Currently, Massport charges ride apps a $3.25 fee for pickups or drop-offs at Logan, which the ride-hailing giants then pass onto customers' fares. But the agency that oversees the airport is discussing hiking those fees to $5.50 each way starting in July, and then raising them to $7.50 each starting in July 2027, according to materials presented at a Massport board committee meeting on Wednesday and obtained by the Globe.
In fiscal year 2024, which ended in June, ride app drop-off fees alone generated $15.6 million of revenue for Massport, up from $13.7 million the year prior, according to Massport's annual financial report. Logan Airport ride-app pickups and drop-offs increased about 14 percent in the same period, the report said.
Josh Gold, the senior director of public policy and communications at Uber, said he was concerned that the eventual $15 roundtrip surcharge would batter consumers' wallets and cost Uber drivers reliable business. He also questioned why ride-hailing apps face higher surcharges than taxis or personal vehicles, which pay no fees to come and go and are, Massport's presentation says, the “most impactful mode to congestion.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Rides get more pets, drivers pay goes down and Waymo hits Austin. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER MAKES SERVICE ANIMAL RIDES EASIERUber is making it easier to ride with service animals. The Verge reported:
Uber introduced a new feature designed to make it easier for people with disabilities to ride with service animals.
For years, Uber's policies toward service animals have been in accordance with state and federal law: they are allowed to ride at all times at no extra cost. But now the company is allowing customers to self-identify as owners of service animals in order to give drivers more visibility when to expect a furry companion. The new feature also includes a warning to drivers to avoid cancelling rides or discriminating against customers with service animals.
If a rider opts into notifying drivers and a driver requests to cancel their trip at pickup, the driver will receive a notification reminding them it's against the law to refuse to transport someone because of their service animal and confirming that they wish to proceed with the cancellation. “Any driver who violates this policy may permanently lose access to the platform,” Yoon says.
DRIVER PAY HAS DECLINED SINCE MIN. WAGEDriver pay has dropped since minimum wage was enacted. Boston Globe reported:
Contrary to the idea that the new minimum wage would increase pay, a number of veteran drivers interviewed by The Boston Globe said their overall earnings have taken a hit since Uber and Lyft's new minimum hourly wage went into effect in Massachusetts. Intended to give them greater stability and, ostensibly, the ability to make more money, drivers said that instead the new earnings base seems to be functioning as a cap of sorts.
It's not that these drivers are making below the new minimum, it's that it has become much harder to make more, according to 10 local drivers who talked to the Globe, some of whom said that, previously, with a little effort, they could average $40 or even $50 an hour.
So far, data analysis of earnings before and after the new minimum wage is limited. But drivers point to several factors that could be contributing to the earnings pinch, including more low-paying rides and less surge pricing, which they say can boost earnings by up to 30 percent. Some report an increase in drivers, including from outside Massachusetts, possibly attracted by the promise of the new minimum wage, which would mean less need to use surge pricing to incentivize people to get on the road.
UBER OPENS ‘INTEREST LIST' FOR WAYMO'S IN AUSTINUber is getting ready for Waymos in Austin. CNBC reported:
Ride-hailing and food delivery app Uber is opening its “interest list” to users in Austin, Texas, who want to be first in line for Waymo robotaxis there.
The company said in a statement that users will “be able to travel across 37 square miles of Austin — from Hyde Park, to Downtown, to Montopolis” — when the Uber-Waymo service launches soon.
The list allows users to receive Uber updates and bolsters their odds of being matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle upon launch.
The Waymo rides in Austin will only be available through the Uber app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where riders hail them through the Waymo One app.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo expands, Tesla goes FSD in June and Uber faces the FTC. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO EXPANDS TO MORE CITIESWaymo is entering more cities. TechCrunch reported:
Waymo plans to start testing autonomous vehicles in 10 new cities this year, starting with Las Vegas and San Diego, according to The Verge. However, this doesn't mean the company will launch commercial operations in any of these cities — or even test them in autonomous mode. Waymo told The Verge it will send less than 10 AVs to each city, where they will be manually driven.
Waymo is already operating a commercial robotaxi service in three cities — Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — with plans to launch in Austin, Atlanta, and Miami this year.
The Alphabet-owned company has not confirmed if it will launch a robotaxi service in any of the cities it tests in this year. Usually, Waymo sends a limited human-driven fleet to test across a broad range of city and driving conditions to get a sense of how its system adapts to new environments.
TESLA LAUNCHES FSD IN JUNETesla is launching unsupervised driving in June. The Verge reported:
Tesla will launch an “unsupervised, no one in the car” robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, Elon Musk said in an earnings call Wednesday.
The vehicles will be part of a fleet owned by Tesla, and not customer's personal vehicles. (Musk has previously promised Tesla customers would be able to add their own vehicles to a “Tesla Network” for ridehailing.) They will be available for paid trips, and will arrive without anyone behind the wheel, Musk claimed.
In its letter to shareholders, Tesla said its customers have cumulatively driven over 3 billion miles on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) — the company's advanced driver system — as of January. Tesla says that FSD (Supervised) is a precursor to fully autonomous vehicles, but the company warns customers that they need to continue to pay attention to the road since the system does not make the vehicle autonomous. The company also claims to have increased AI training compute by over 400 percent in 2024.
UBER/LYFT FACES FTCUber and Lyft have to respond to the FTC. Bloomberg reported:
The US Federal Trade Commission is probing whether Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. illegally coordinated to limit driver pay in New York City, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.
So-called civil investigative demands, which are similar to subpoenas, were sent to both companies in the final days of the Biden administration. The demands compel the companies to turn over information within 30 days about an agreement with New York City officials over how drivers are compensated.
Uber and Lyft entered into the agreement with New York City in July 2024 to reduce ride-share lockouts that had resulted in reduced driver pay.
Gold, the Uber spokesperson, said there was never “an agreement or deal” with Lyft itself. “We were neither conspiring nor was our goal to limit driver pay,” he said.
The FTC isn't investigating New York City officials. But a key focus of the inquiry is to what extent city officials helped in crafting the agreement and under what legal authority, the FTC said in the memo. The companies may have some defense because of the involvement of New York City's government, but more investigation is needed to substantiate that, according to the memo.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Insurance chaos, gig workers with no control and AI has errors. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
NYC TO STABLIZE RIDESHARE INSURANCENYC is trying to calm the chaos of insurance. Bloomberg reported:
Two of the bills would make it easier to adjust insurance rates and allow regulators to phase increases after American Transit was criticized for offering drivers premiums far lower than its competitors.
The proposals follow a November meeting held by state officials and industry stakeholders to discuss solutions to address ATIC's insolvency.
ATIC has sought regulatory approval to raise rates as part of measures to re-mediate its financial situation, though driver representatives and rideshare companies including Uber Technologies Inc. have warned it would increase drivers' expenses and make rides more expensive for consumers.
COURIER ALGORITHM NIGHTMAREThe algorithms for couriers have become a nightmare. The Guardian reported:
This week gig workers, trade unions and human rights groups launched a campaign for greater openness from Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo about the logic underpinning opaque algorithms that determine what work they do and what they are paid.
The couriers wonder why someone who has only just logged on gets a gig while others waiting longer are overlooked. Why, when the restaurant is busy and crying out for couriers, does the app say there are none available?
“It's an absolute nightmare,” says the driver, adding that they permanently lost access to one of the platforms over a matter of a “max five minutes” wait in getting to a restaurant while he finished another job for a different app. Sometimes he gets logged out for a couple of hours because his beard has grown, confusing the facial recognition software.
But similar frustrations simmer in Lincoln, where at 9pm one evening, Lucas Myron was delivering burgers, fried chicken and groceries when without warning a chunk of his work stopped. One of the two takeaway apps he used suddenly ceased to function. Without warning, half of the father-of-one's gig economy income vanished.
FORGIVING AIUber's CEO asks for forgiveness...for AI. Business Insider reported:
Society will have to weigh up the acceptable level of errors from AI in real-world systems like robotaxis versus its potential benefits, Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said.
Khosrowshahi pointed to the safety record of autonomous vehicle giant Waymo, a subsidiary of Google owner Alphabet, as an example. Google's chief investment officer, Ruth Porat, responded that while Waymo's technology was “meaningfully safer” than that operated by human beings, “there is more forgiveness when it's a human” making a mistake.
A report produced by Waymo in partnership with the Swiss Reinsurance Company said that its fleet of autonomous cars was safer than human drivers. The report, published in December, said that Waymo's cars faced 90% fewer insurance claims related to bodily harm.
Still, self-driving cars have faced backlash amid some high-profile safety incidents. Last year, Waymo issued a recall after two of its cars crashed into a pickup truck, while Tesla's Full Self-Driving system has been involved in multiple incidents.
Khosrowshahi asked how society should weigh up the mistakes of machines and algorithms “versus the benefits of AI coming into the forefront.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Tesla's data gives doubts, Uber fights insurance and PA makes rides safer. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TESLA DATA DOUBTSElon praising new data for full-self driving may be misrepresented. Electrek reported:
Elon Musk is praising data that he claims shows Tesla is on the verge of achieving unsupervised Full Self-Driving, when in fact, it shows it is still years away and he is misrepresenting it.
Tesla has consistently refused to share any data regarding its self-driving progress. That's despite more recently starting to use “miles between necessary disengagement”, sometimes called “miles between critical disengagement”, as a metric to track progress and claiming x multiplicators in miles between critical disengagement in recent updates without any actual data to back it up.
There are no prior versions of Tesla FSD over the last 3 years that would add up to a 3x improvement in miles between critical disengagement. We can forget about “5 to 10x.”
UBER COALITION FIGHTING INSURANCE COSTSAn Uber-led coalition is running campaigns to lower insurance costs. NY Post reported:
Citizens for Affordable Rates is particularly supporting city legislation that would reduce the minimum liability coverage taxi and ride-share drivers are required to carry from a whopping $200,000 to $50,000.
The measure is sponsored by Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa, whose northern Manhattan district that includes Washington Heights and Inwood has a large constituency of for-hire drivers.
Ride-share app Uber is bankrolling the group's first ads on TV/cable, digital/social media channels plus all the major streaming services (Amazon Prime, Tubi, Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Sling, Paramount+ HBO Max Pluto TV) in the New York City and Albany regions.
PROPOSED PA LAW FOR RIDER SAFETYPA is proposing a new law to help with rider safety. Penn Live reported:
To make the process of getting in the right car more manageable and safer, state Representative Ann Flood (R-Northhampton) has proposed “Sami's Law,” which would require Uber and Lyft to provide a barcode or other machine-readable code on the outside of a vehicle to help minimize the risk of patrons getting in the wrong car.
The safety of ride-share apps has been under criticism after the death of 21-year-old Samantha Josephson, in South Carolina in 2019. Josephson had ordered an Uber but got into the wrong car, which she mistook for her ride. The “fake” driver used child locks on the door to prevent her from leaving, ultimately kidnapping and murdering her.
According to a Jan. 13 memorandum, several states have started enacting similar versions of Sami's Law. In 2019, South Carolina's Samantha L. Josephson Ridesharing Safety Act required ride-share vehicles to display license plate numbers on the front and penalized those misrepresenting themselves as authorized drivers.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber gears up for robotaxis, drivers get paid, and NYC fights lockouts. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER/LYFT PREPARE FOR ROBOTAXISRobotaxis are here and the rideshare giants are gearing up. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Both companies will have driverless cars — from Alphabet's Waymo and others — on their apps this year. In the coming months, riders in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta will be able to hail a Waymo through the Uber app. Lyft plans to offer May Mobility's driverless taxis in Atlanta.
Uber and Lyft once invested billions of dollars in developing their own self-driving cars. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick used to say the company needed to lead the pivot to driverless technology or risk becoming irrelevant.
Both companies gave up on the costly endeavor during the pandemic, selling their self-driving units. Now they are competing to be the platforms on which the robotaxi technology developed by others will operate.
Uber announced more than five U.S. robotaxi partnerships in the past five months, covering Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities. Uber struck a deal with Waymo that will allow customers in Austin and Atlanta to hail the company's driverless taxis only through the Uber app, a move that will prevent the driverless carmaker from taking market share in those cities. Waymo will continue to operate its own app in other cities.
$328 MILLION SETTLEMENTDrivers in New York are owed $328 million, but they have to act fast. NBC4 reported:
New York Attorney General Letitia James is encouraging rideshare drivers who believe they were underpaid by Uber and Lyft to file claims on or before January 31, 2025 to receive the funds they are due under settlements reached by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
In November, James secured $328 million in back payments for drivers after an OAG investigation found that Uber and Lyft withheld funds from drivers and failed to provide valuable benefits.
Now, the attorney general has extended the deadline to file claims for those settlement funds to January 31, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. and is calling for all rideshare drivers to check their eligibility and submit a claim online before the deadline.
New Yorkers who drove for Uber between 2014 and 2017 or for Lyft between 2015 and 2017 may be eligible to receive money from the settlement funds, which are being distributed in full to current and former drivers. Drivers who believe they may be eligible and have not yet filed a claim, or who previously filed a claim but did not receive a response, are encouraged to file a claim online as soon as possible.
NYC FIGHTS UBER/LYFT LOCKOUTSNYC has a plan to fight Uber and Lyft's lockouts. Bloomberg reported:
New York City is trying to close a loophole that Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have used to deny drivers millions of dollars in pay with a raft of new measures that would effectively raise their rates by roughly 6.1%.
The commission has vowed to introduce changes to its minimum pay formulas for Uber and Lyft drivers after a Bloomberg investigation in October showed the companies have systematically locked drivers out of their platforms to game those calculations and save millions in future pay. In its proposal, the commission said the lockouts have prevented drivers from “working and earning the daily income they were expecting to earn” and are “in clear conflict with the intent of local law.”
Chief among the changes the commission is proposing is the way it sets so-called utilization rates, a gauge of the time drivers spend actually making trips versus waiting to be matched with riders. Those rates, which are part of the formula for driver pay and are currently supposed to adjust annually, were designed to ensure drivers were compensated for both trips made and the time spent en route to passengers and waiting for work.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The IRS cracks down on gig workers, self-driving is here, and Lyft sues San Francisco. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
IRS CRACKSDOWN ON GIG WORKERSThe IRS made it clear it's cracking down on gig work. Gizmodo reported:
In a sign that the Internal Revenue Service could be cracking down on gig workers, the agency has received authorization from a federal court to gather information from JustAnswer LLC about any U.S. taxpayers who received compensation through the platform.
California federal District Court Judge Dolly Gee approved the agency's request for what is known as a John Doe summons, which seeks information about a group of individuals whom the the government hasn't already identified by name or other means. The summons seeks information about people who received $5,000 or more for answering questions on the JustAnswer platform in any one year from 2017 through 2020.
In November, the IRS issued new guidance to gig work platforms instructing them to report information to the agency about taxpayers who earned more than $5,000 in 2024, more than $2,500 in 2025, and more than $600 in 2026 and beyond.
Previously, gig platforms only had to report information to the IRS for workers who earned more than $20,000 and completed at least 200 transactions. The new thresholds are designed to make it harder for gig workers to avoid paying taxes on their income.
SELF-DRIVING IS HERE2024 proved that self-driving is here. But is it safe? CNET reported:
Waymo plans to expand to Atlanta and Austin, Texas, through a partnership with Uber and is launching its first international testing in Tokyo. Zoox aims to open up to public riders, starting in Las Vegas. And startup Avride, which has also partnered with Uber to deploy its autonomous vehicles and delivery robots, hopes to launch a robotaxi service in Dallas in 2025. Lyft, too, is teaming up with autonomous vehicle companies like May Mobility, aiming to make its fleet of self-driving Toyota Siennas available to riders in Atlanta starting next year.
Aside from regulatory hurdles, there's also the considerable challenge of convincing the public that self-driving cars are safe. That's why practically every piece of communication from robotaxi companies touts the safety of their respective vehicles and technology — especially in comparison to human drivers.
A Waymo data hub published in September states that after driving over 22 million miles, its self-driving tech was involved in “73% fewer injury-causing crashes and 48% fewer police-reported crashes compared to human drivers.” A 2022 Cruise report states that “there is no ambiguity that human driving mistakes are one of the most substantial factors causing roadway injuries and deaths.” And in an open letter last year, Zoox's chief safety innovation officer noted that, “Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 94% of crashes are caused by human choice or error.”
LYFT SUES SAN FRANSISCOLyft sues San Francisco due to $100M in charges. TechCrunch reported:
Lyft is suing the city of San Francisco, claiming the city unfairly charged the ride-hailing company over $100 million in taxes, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit alleges that, over the course of five years, San Francisco unfairly labeled money earned by Lyft drivers as company revenue.
In the complaint, Lyft maintains that its drivers are its customers, not employees. “Accordingly, Lyft recognizes revenue from rideshare as being comprised of fees paid to Lyft by drivers, not charges paid by riders to drivers,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit is just the latest chapter in a yearslong debate over how gig economy apps should classify drivers. Last summer, Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash notched a win after the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 22, which allows the companies to classify drivers as independent contractors, meaning the companies do not have to provide drivers with full employee benefits.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Walmart gets sued, the same rides for different prices and Instacart fights back. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WALMART ILLEGALLY OPENED ACCOUNTSWalmart is in trouble for opening up millions of deposit accounts for delivery drivers. CBS news reported:
More than one million delivery drivers collectively paid more than $10 million in fees after Walmart and Branch Messenger illegally opened costly deposit accounts in their names without consent, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday against the retailer and payments platform.
The federal agency claims drivers were forced to use the accounts to get paid and were deceived about how to access their earnings, with Walmart threatening to fire workers who did not comply. Drivers had to follow a complicated process to get their pay, and then faced further delays or fees if they needed to transfer the money into another account.
As a result, workers forked over more than $10 million in fees to transfer their earnings into accounts of their choosing, the CFPB claims.
SAME UBER FARES COST DIFFENT PRICESWhy do the same Uber rides cost different prices? Economic Times reported:
A recent viral post on social media has reignited concerns among Uber users about the fare disparity when booking rides from different devices. Sudhir, a regular Uber user, shared his experience on X (formerly known as Twitter), where he noticed a significant price difference for the same trip on his phone and his daughter's phone.
Uber was quick to respond, clarifying that there are various factors that can lead to different fares for the same trip. “Hi there, multiple differences in these two rides impact the prices. The pick-up point, ETA, and drop-off point on these requests vary, which will cause different fares. Uber does not personalise trip pricing based on a rider's cell phone manufacturer,” the company explained.
While Uber insists that the device itself does not influence the pricing, users remain divided. Some believe that Uber might be charging higher fares for iPhone users compared to Android users, while others speculate that the differences could be attributed to Uber's dynamic pricing model, which fluctuates based on real-time factors like traffic and demand.
INSTACART/UBER FIGHT DEACTIVATION LAWInstacart joins Uber in fighting Seattle's deactivation law. GeekWire reported:
Instacart is joining Uber in an attempt to block a new ordinance in Seattle that regulates how companies can deactivate workers who deliver food, shop for groceries, and complete other tasks via on-demand apps.
The law, originally passed by the Seattle City Council in August 2023 and signed at the time by Mayor Bruce Harrell, was designed to provide more job security to app-based couriers, delivery drivers, and other service providers.
But Instacart said that the ordinance infringes on constitutional rights and federal laws. The grocery giant alleges that the ordinance contradicts its views on safety and efficiency, and poses risk to customer safety and worker privacy given data disclosure requirements.
The legislation was the first of its kind at the time, and goes further than efforts by other municipalities to regulate deactivations.
Under the law, companies must give workers a 14-day notice of deactivation, base deactivations on “reasonable” policies, ensure human review of all deactivations, and provide workers with records behind the decision.
The law does not apply to drivers who transport passengers, who are covered under Washington state law.
A startup gets empowered, drivers fight lockouts and Waymo takes the lead. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
EMPOWER VS UBERUber has a new rival using its own playbook. NY Times reported:
Founded in 2019, the ride-hailing start-up Empower has become a serious rival to Uber and Lyft in Washington. It now does 100,000 rides in the city each week, good for 10 percent of the local market, a larger share than the city's taxis.
But the company has refused to register with Mr. Rogers's agency, meaning that it operates in the city illegally. While drivers and riders have taken to Empower because of its cheap prices, its rapid growth has been met with mounting legal troubles, and now, Mr. Rogers and Brianne Nadeau, a member of the District of Columbia Council who leads the Committee on Public Works and Operations, are making a push to shut it down.
The start-up has racked up over $100 million in unpaid fines. It is being investigated by the Council and has been sued by the D.C. attorney general's office. Last month, a Superior Court judge ordered the company to cease operations.
To some regulators, Empower's tactics are more than just familiar — they're a page out of Uber's playbook from when it arrived in Washington a decade ago and wrested control of the transit market from taxi companies.
DRIVERS FIGHT NYC LOOPHOLEDrivers are fighting the NYC lockouts. NY Times reported:
Amadou Diallo, 38, is one of many drivers who say the lockouts have severely affected his take-home pay. Mr. Diallo, who has been driving full-time for Uber and Lyft for four years, said he used to make up to $350 on a given weekend day, before expenses, but is now making less than $200 during such shifts because of the lockouts.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission, the city agency that oversees the ride-share companies, plans to amend the driver pay law early next year to prevent the companies from engaging in lockouts. As the city mulls over how it will adjust the law, unions that represent drivers have made their demands clear, and so have Uber and Lyft.
The Independent Drivers Guild, which represents around 80,000 for-hire drivers in New York City, demanded this week that the city increase the amount of available work by limiting the pool of new Uber and Lyft drivers, which the union believes would end the lockouts.
WAYMO TAKES THE LEADIt's been a rough year for robotaxis… but not for Waymo. The Verge reported:
Chief among those is the number 4 million, which is how many driverless rides the company provided in the three cities in which it operates: Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Waymo says it has provided a total of 5 million driverless rides in its three key markets, which means nearly all of its growth took place this year alone.
The fact that Waymo has facilitated 4 million trips in three cities, while only serving one airport, is pretty amazing and could speak to the company's future prospects as its technology continues to mature. Airports are a major source of revenue for human-powered ridehail companies like Uber and Lyft.
Safety is also a big hurdle. While Waymo has published a number of studies that indicate its vehicles are safer than human drivers, there are still a lot of lingering questions around passenger safety. Waymo vehicles have been targeted for harassment and vandalism. And they have occasionally come into conflict with emergency vehicles.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers form a union, GM kills its robotaxi and Uber at odds with insurance. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MASS. DRIVERS FOR A UNIONDrivers in Massachusetts can officially form a union. WGBH reported:
Rodriguez and thousands of other ride-hailing service drivers in Massachusetts have signed cards indicating their support to join a union, less than one month after voters passed a ballot question that would make unionizing a possibility.
Around 100 Uber and Lyft drivers chanted union songs and held up signs indicating their support for a future coalition known as the App Drivers Union at Wednesday's rally, an event supported by local organizers from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Building Service Employees International Union.
GM SCRAPS ROBOTAXI PROGRAMGeneral Motors scraps their robotaxi program. Wall Street Journal reported:
General Motors has scrapped its Cruise robotaxi program, citing the time and costs needed to scale the business and rising competition from other autonomous driving competitors.
GM on Tuesday said it plans to realign its autonomous driving strategy and give priority to development of advanced driver assistance systems.
The automaker said it would pursue a path for fully autonomous personal vehicles, and build on the progress of its Super Cruise hands-off, eyes-on driving feature.
UBER HAS CONCERNS OVER NYC INSURANCEUber is asking NYC to change its insurance requirements. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. is asking New York City's taxi regulator to reconsider proposed changes to commercial auto insurance requirements, saying they may unintentionally leave thousands of drivers in one of the company's largest markets unable to insure their vehicles.
New York City officials are weighing tighter insurance rules after Bloomberg reported that American Transit Insurance Co., which covers 60% of the city's roughly 120,000 for-hire vehicles, is insolvent and posted more than $700 million in net losses in the second quarter.
The rideshare giant argues the TLC has not clearly defined the terms “solvent” and “responsible” and asks for leniency on the adoption deadline. It also asked to allow existing policies to remain valid until they expire. In addition, the firm is urging the TLC to consider lowering personal injury protection limits to control insurance costs, in line with legislation the City Council proposed in September.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Self-driving rules get relaxed, drivers strike over pay and Uber launching a new service. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TRUMP TEAM MAY RELAX SELF-DRIVING RULESTrump's transition team is looking to help Tesla. CNBC reported:
Tesla shares jumped Monday following a report that President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is planning to make a federal framework to regulate self-driving vehicles a top priority for the U.S. Transport Department.
A federal framework for regulating self-driving vehicles would be a major boon to Musk's Tesla, which has been promising fully self-driving vehicles for several years but has so far failed to deliver a car capable of being driven autonomously without a human behind the wheel.
The long-term vision for Tesla is to produce a fleet of so-called robotaxis, autonomous vehicles that can drive people around without the need for human supervision.
Last month, Musk showed off Tesla's long-awaited robotaxi — a concept car called the “Cybercab,” a $30,000 two-seater vehicle with no steering wheels or pedals.
NEWCASTLE UBER DRIVERS STRIKEDrivers in Newcastle have gone on strike. BBC reported:
A group of Uber drivers have gone on strike in a row over pay and fee transparency.
The Newcastle drivers, who do not have formal union representation, gathered to protest outside the company's office by the Bigg Market.
Changes made by Uber following a Supreme Court judgement in 2021 mean drivers no longer know how much a customer has paid, only their own fee, which they say is “unfair”.
The court ruled Uber drivers should be considered employees, meaning they would be entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay.
At the time, drivers would take payment from customers and pay the firm a set 25% fee.
Uber has now changed this process to handle payments itself, forwarding a fee to drivers, who have complained there is no transparency over what share they receive.
UBER OFFERS XXLUber launches a new service called XXL. Business Insider Reported:
The ride-hailing company's new ride category comes with “access to larger trunk space,” it announced Wednesday.
So what's the difference between this and an UberXL, which has been around for years? It boils down to trunk space.
The UberXL option gets riders a van or SUV that seats up to six people. While the new UberXXL choice guarantees trunk space and fits six people, the UberXL option doesn't promise the trunk will be free to load your luggage into.
It's worth noting the UberXXL option is only for trips to and from airports. It's available for more than 60 airports worldwide, including 40 in the US and Canada.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers ask for cash, Uber threatens drivers and Waymo opens up. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS ASKING FOR CASHDrivers have started asking passengers to pay in cash. Business Insider reported:
Some drivers for rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are offering passengers an alternative: Ditch the apps entirely, agree on a price, and pay them in cash or through an app like Venmo.
Drivers for the services told Business Insider that going around the apps has become attractive as many have noticed their earnings decreasing. In the past, some have said trips paid as little as $3. Striking a deal directly with their passenger offers a more lucrative fare — even if it carries risks for both sides.
Posts on Reddit and in Facebook groups include questions from drivers about whether it's ever acceptable to ask riders to cancel the ride they requested through the Uber or Lyft app and pay them another way. Some posts from passengers describe the other side of the interaction.
Michael Moya, who drives for Uber in Boston, said he often hears drivers discussing whether to offer customers the option not to use the apps and pay using cash or a separate payment app like Venmo.
He said the option could backfire, including Uber and Lyft deactivating the drivers' accounts.
UBER THREATENS DRIVERSUber is threatening to cut off drivers if pay increases. AMNY reported:
Uber says it may effectively lay off thousands of New York City drivers if the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) decides to raise minimum pay standards.
In a Monday evening blog post, the rideshare giant argued that the city's first-in-the-nation minimum pay rules have made their service too expensive, leading to a decline in trip volume. Uber warned that further increases in pay would come at the cost of many drivers' ability to use the app.
Uber doesn't cite a specific number or percentage of its workforce that could be docked or a formula for how such mass layoffs would work, but a spokesperson for the company said that depending on the size of the increase, thousands of drivers could be permanently deactivated from the app.
WAYMO ROBOTAXIS EXPANDWaymo opens up big in LA. AP News reported:
Waymo on Tuesday opened its robotaxi service to anyone who wants a ride around Los Angeles, marking another milestone in the evolution of self-driving car technology since the company began as a secret project at Google 15 years ago.
The expansion comes eight months after Waymo began offering rides in Los Angeles to a limited group of passengers chosen from a waiting list that had ballooned to more than 300,000 people. Now, anyone with the Waymo One smartphone app will be able to request a ride around an 80-square-mile (129-square-kilometer) territory spanning the second largest U.S. city.
After Waymo received approval from California regulators to charge for rides 15 months ago, the company initially chose to launch its operations in San Francisco before offering a limited service in Los Angeles.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft gets fined, Tesla hits a deer and drivers look to unionize. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT PAYS $2.1M FINELyft pays a hefty fine after luring drivers with false earnings claim. TechCrunch reported:
Lyft has agreed to a $2.1 million settlement proposed by the FTC over the car-hailing company's “deceptive earnings claims about how much money drivers could expect to make.”
As documented in the FTC's complaint document, Lyft systematically inflated the incomes it advertised to drivers it was attempting to recruit in 2021 and 2022. For instance, in LA it suggested drivers would be offered up to $43 per hour. “Lyft failed to disclose that these amounts did not represent the income an average driver could expect to earn, but instead were based on the earnings of the top one-fifth of drivers,” and the difference was up to 30%.
“Lyft claimed that Drivers in New Jersey could earn up to $34 per hour when Lyft's own calculations put the median earnings at only $25 per hour. In the same month, Lyft claimed that Drivers in Boston could earn up to $42 per hour when median earnings were just $33 per hour,” the FTC wrote in the complaint.
TESLA HITS DEER FULL SPEEDA Tesla using FSD hits a deer without ever slowing or stopping. Jalopnik reported:
Photos and video posted to Twitter by @TheSeekerOf42 show the before and after of a deer strike, during which the poster claimed he was using Tesla's “Full Self-Driving” software. Video shows the car approaching a deer in the road without slowing, and a photo of the front of the car shows the resulting damage: A cracked bumper, and a hood that's both dented and “shifted almost an inch toward the windshield.”
This is the sort of edge case where LiDAR would have really helped. The Tesla's computer vision appears to have missed the light-colored deer against the lighter-colored strip of pavement on the road, but sensors with actual 3D detection capabilities would likely have noticed the solid object standing in the car's way.
UBER DRIVERS LOOK TO UNIONIZESouthCoast Uber and Lyft drivers are looking to unionize. The Herald News reported:
Question 3 in the upcoming election would decide whether rideshare drivers can unionize in a collective bargaining agreement with companies like Uber or Lyft.
Fennelly said of drivers like himself, “it's a little unclear about how we would unionize, or what would be available to us if we unionize. Ideologically, I'm with unionization.”
According to Gill, Uber has reduced the amount of pay per mile a driver pockets for every trip. “The pay is not like it was. Before, it didn't matter how close the ride was,” he said, remembering the base pay was near five dollars for a 2- or 3-mile ride. “Now, you get a ride, and they pay you four-something for it.”
Tips haven't gone up to compensate for these deductions. Lately, Gill said, he used to drive for seven or eight hours to make $200. Now, he drives for 11 or 12 hours to reach that amount.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft adds service animals, states with the highest pay and drivers protest in NYC. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT ADDING SERVICE ANIMALSLyft is working on a service animal opt-in feature. TechCrunch reported:
A Lyft spokesperson said, “We strive to provide an inclusive and accessible platform for riders, including those who rely on service animals.” They said the company is “working directly with advocacy organizations in the community” and also pointed to an upcoming “service animal opt-in feature” that should launch by 2025.
The company mentioned the feature earlier this month in a profile of a new product manager, Shreya Shankar, who said this will allow riders to “declare that they have a service animal” (they'll only need to do this once), so the driver will be notified before pickup.
STATES WITH HIGHEST PAY FOR DRIVERSWhich states have the best pay for drivers? Yahoo! reported:
To find the states with the most competitive pay for Uber drivers, Bader Scott found the average reported yearly earnings for Uber drivers in each state and compared this data to overall average salary figures. While Uber drivers typically earn less than the average salaried worker in each state, the difference between Uber driver salaries and overall average salaries was the smallest in these locations.
Mississippi
Uber driver average salary: $35,002
State average salary: $51,116
Arkansas
Uber driver average salary: $35,702
State average salary: $56,628
Indiana
Uber driver average salary: $38,002
State average salary: $60,892
Oklahoma
Uber driver average salary: $36,202
State average salary: $58,396
Kentucky
Uber driver average salary: $36,902
State average salary: $59,592
Hawaii
Uber driver average salary: $40,902
State average salary: $66,976
Maine
Uber driver average salary: $38,102
State average salary: $62,868
DRIVERS PROTEST NYC LOCKOUTSHundreds of drivers protested NYC's lockouts this week. AM NY reported:
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) says over 1,000 drivers participated in the blockade on Monday morning, stretching along 11th Avenue from 30th Street all the way to 48th Street. Drivers traveled to City Hall and beyond, honking on the “horns of justice” to demand fair pay and the ability to work without disruption.
By locking drivers out of the apps, Uber and Lyft can effectively inflate a metric called the “utilization rate,” which measures how much time drivers carry passengers versus their total time on the road. If the utilization rate is higher, then drivers are supposedly picking up more fares, and the apps can pay lower per-minute and per-mile rates to their drivers under the city's minimum pay rules.
Bloomberg reported that these moves have cost drivers millions of dollars in income and driven many to the financial brink. Some have said they had to take out loans and max out their credit cards just to pay their rent and bills.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
An overhyped event, the truth about the lockouts and Uber looks to Tesla. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Credit: Tesla“WE, ROBOT” LEAVES QUESTIONSThe Tesla event left more questions than answers. Wall Street Journal reported:
The gathering was ostensibly for Tesla to unveil a robotaxi vehicle and related service, but it was light on details about the cars and included even less about a service. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk spent barely 20 minutes on stage (after arriving nearly an hour late).
Tesla shareholders were flummoxed. “That's it? Disappointing lack of detail,” read the headline of a report Friday by the Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, a noted Tesla bull.
“Twenty-minute robotaxi event concludes six months of Uber event worry,” Justin Post of BofA Securities noted to clients. “Tesla's toothless taxi is a best-case outcome for Uber,” John Colantuoni of Jefferies wrote in his report.
Musk, of course, actually needs to get those Cybercabs rolling first. And that also will be challenging — likely more so than he envisions. Building the cars is one thing, but Tesla also needs to be certified for full, unsupervised self-driving in the states where it plans to sell them.
That is typically a multiyear process, though Musk claimed Thursday that the company intends to have such driving available for its Model 3 and Y vehicles in California and Texas next year. In their report Friday, Bernstein's analysts said, “We continue to struggle to see Tesla overcoming the technological and regulatory hurdles needed to leapfrog current level 4 robotaxis.”
DRIVER LOCKOUT DEVASTATIONThe driver lockouts in NYC were nothing short of devastating. New investigations by Bloomberg reported:
Under a local law, drivers are supposed to be paid even for the time they spend between trips. But Uber and Lyft found a money-saving loophole: Simply prevent them from logging into the apps, erasing some of their working time from the record. Because these so-called lockouts happen without warning, and can last anywhere from several minutes to several hours, drivers have had to work longer to keep their wages up. And in many cases, they can't.
By making drivers seem busier on paper, the companies set themselves up to save as much as hundreds of millions of dollars in driver payouts, according to Bloomberg estimates — all while telling the drivers, falsely, that the lockouts were required because of the law.
It's not good news for riders either. By keeping drivers locked out in surge zones, the rideshare companies further limited the supply of drivers in a way that may have led to even higher prices for passengers. Of the 3,700 screenshots of lockouts with a discernable location collected for this investigation, more than 430 were reported by drivers near a surge zone confirmed by Bloomberg.
Without the lockouts, the rideshare companies would likely have to pay tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars more when TLC resets the citywide utilization rate early next year. If drivers hypothetically had the same exact rides as they did in the first half of 2024, even a one-percentage point drop in the rate would mean that Uber's minimum payment over a six-month period would go up by around $29 million, according to Bloomberg's calculations.
UBER LOOKS TO TESLAUber's CEO has hinted about a Tesla collab. Business Insider reported:
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says going head-to-head with Elon Musk can be tough — so he's open to partnering with him.
Khosrowshahi told the Financial Times that he would “love” to offer Tesla's robotaxis on Uber's ride-hailing platform when they are safe and ready to use.
“Obviously, competing with Elon Musk is no easy matter, and we take nothing for granted; we really want to partner with the autonomous industry,” he told the FT in an interview that aired Tuesday.
He sees three potential paths for Uber once Tesla launches its robotaxis: competing with the EV giant, working with Musk's company to have its autonomous vehicles on its network, or combining the two.
He added: “We'd love to have it on the platform, but if not, I don't think this is going to be a winner-take-all marketplace. We believe in the spirit of partnership; we'll see what Tesla does.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Lyft Drivers, Uber AI and Tesla's “We, Robot”. LegalRideshare
4 min read Lyft entices drivers, Uber uses AI and Tesla's cybercab event. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LYFT IMPROVES PAYLyft is trying to improve pay for drivers. Reuters reported:
Lyft is looking to make its ride-hailing platform more attractive to drivers by rolling out measures such as higher pay for longer-than-estimated trips and prioritizing members with a safe driving record.
In its latest move unveiled on Tuesday, Lyft is introducing a “preferred drivers” program, where members with a higher safe-driving score will receive more ride requests, a new earnings dashboard and electric vehicle rides that are linked to battery range.
Drivers will also be able to see the estimated hourly rate for each ride to help decide if a ride is worth their time and will get paid more for trips that are at least five minutes more than the estimated time.
UBER USES AI FOR EVUber is using AI for EV. Reuters adds:
Uber Technologies will roll out an AI assistant powered by OpenAI's technology to help drivers transition to electric vehicles, as part of its efforts to lower emissions.
It will provide personalized answers tailored to the driver's city and eligible incentives, Uber said. The company will also expand the chatbot's use to answer queries beyond EVs in early 2025.
About 180,000 Uber drivers monthly are moving to EVs in North America and Europe.
“Uber drivers are adopting EVs five times faster than the average motorist in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In London, nearly 30% of all miles driven on Uber are now electric,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
TESLA'S CYBERCAB EVENTSource: TESLATesla's cybercab event was short on details and long on promises. Forbes explains:
The surprisingly short event consisted of a talk on the virtue of robotaxis by Elon Musk, plus an opportunity for guests to ride in a prototype vehicle around the studio lot. Also present were Optimus Prime robots which danced and served drinks. One rare surprising reveal was a 20-passenger “Robovan” meant for group transportation.
Few details were provided. The Robotaxi, also known as Cybercab, is a two-seater which will eventually cost around $30,000. It will use wireless inductive charging rather than the Tesla NACS connector. Individuals will be able to buy them and operate fleets to make income, but no details on this were provided, and Tesla no longer operates a press office to answer questions.
In reality Tesla FSD is still in very primitive shape. It's at about the safety level that Waymo was in 2016, and Waymo is only now starting to scale 8 years after that. While Tesla may progress faster than Waymo did, it suggests they have a long way to go in making working Robotaxi software and associated infrastructure.
It begins with another idea cited by Musk, that most private cars sit idle over 90% of the time, often much more. The thesis is that asset should be put to use, making money. That's true for ordinary cars, but not for taxis. The typical taxi drives more than 60,000 miles/year. It wears out quite quickly, in 5–6 years, so it doesn't wear out with time like a personal car, it wears out exclusively with miles. So if it sits idle, it's only wasting the interest on the capital and the cost of parking. These costs turn out to be minor for a taxi fleet. One you turn your car into a reasonably used taxi, its life depends on how many miles of driving it does, not how long it sits idle.
Musk compared this approach to AirBnB. Originally AirBNB often rented out people's actual homes and apartments while they were away from home. Today, almost all rentals are properties dedicated to being AirBnBs. Cars are likely to be the same, with dedicated fleets taking most of the business. Musk did talk about private owners who might buy several robotaxis and run a fleet, and that could be a possible business, but they would just need to put that fleet into a ride hail service, like Tesla's or Uber. It's unclear why Tesla would bother selling vehicles to people if they can so easily make money if Tesla hires them out. If the car is somebody's private car some of the time, that can be a synergy, but to be the owner of a small robotaxi fleet is not likely to be a lucrative business.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Injured passengers left legally stranded, the Tesla event we're waiting for and drivers create “do-it-yourself” robotaxis. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
INJURED RIDERS CAN'T SUEUber passengers who were seriously injured can't sue. CNN reported:
A married New Jersey couple that was in a severe accident during an Uber ride can't sue the company because they and their daughter agreed to arbitration when they accepted the terms of service for a separate Uber Eats order, a court has ruled
Georgia sustained several fractures throughout her body, including cervical, lumbar, spine and rib fractures and other physical injuries that required surgeries and other procedures. Meanwhile, John has diminished use of his left wrist and a fractured sternum.
They tried taking Uber to court for a jury trial, but an appellate court recently ruled they can't because they previously agreed to Uber's updated terms and conditions requiring arbitration, which are the same in the Uber Eats and Uber ride app.
The couple said it was their minor daughter using Georgia's phone who agreed to Uber Eats' terms of service clicking a button that verified she was 18 years old, but an appellate court said that the company's terms are “valid and enforceable” and that they include an acknowledgement that “disputes concerning auto accidents or personal injuries, will be resolved through binding arbitration ‘and not in a court of law.'”
THE TESLA ROBOTAXI EVENTWhat can we expect from the Tesla Robotaxi event? Axios reported:
The billionaire CEO will host an event on Oct. 10 in Los Angeles, where he's expected to reveal a Cybercab prototype and share the latest advancements in Tesla's full self-driving (FSD) technology.
The show at Warner Bros. studios will no doubt be another Musk special, with lots of hype describing it as a product everyone said was impossible.
There are a multitude of unanswered questions about whether the technology is ready, and how a Tesla robotaxi business would work.
Musk has said Tesla will be ready to launch its robotaxi service next year, but he's famous for saying “I'd be shocked if (such-and-such) didn't happen next year” — only to move the goalposts again and again.
What we know is that Tesla has chosen a different development path than many others, including Waymo, the market leader, whose robotaxis are already operating in several cities.
Instead of using machine learning to train cars to recognize road signs or pedestrians, for example, and then behave in a certain way, Tesla uses a neural network that learns from video data how to drive like a human.
UBER DRIVERS “MAKING THEIR OWN” ROBOTAXISUber drivers are making their own robotaxis to the detriment of their riders. Reuters adds:
A self-driving Tesla carrying a passenger for Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab rammed into an SUV at an intersection in suburban Las Vegas in April, an accident that sparked new concerns that a growing stable of self-styled “robotaxis” is exploiting a regulatory gray area in U.S. cities, putting lives at risk.
Do-it-yourself versions, however, are already proliferating, according to 11 ride-hail drivers who use Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Many say the software, which costs $99 per month, has limitations, but that they use it because it helps reduce drivers' stress and therefore allows them to work longer hours and earn more money.
Reuters is first to report about the Las Vegas accident and a related inquiry by federal safety officials, and of the broad use by ride-hail drivers of Tesla autonomous software.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber announces a new feature, a looming crisis for drivers and Waymo gets friendly with Hyundai. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER VERIFIES RIDERSUber gives drivers some peace of mind. The Verge reported:
All Uber customers will have their personal information, like their name and phone number, cross-checked against third-party databases to make sure there aren't any potential red flags. In addition, riders can opt to upload their government-issued ID to the Uber app to further verify their identity. Once they are verified, customers will have a special badge attached to their account that will be visible to drivers before they accept trip requests.
Uber began testing rider verification in a number of cities earlier this year and was satisfied with the results: “the majority of riders” in those pilot markets got verified, and those that were “tend to give drivers 5 stars more often,” the company said. “Riders who are verified also get fewer serious complaints from drivers.”
INSURANCE CRISIS IN NYCA looming insurance crisis could affect tens of thousands of drivers. The New York Times reported:
The largest insurer of taxis and Ubers in New York City is on the verge of a financial collapse that could force thousands of cars out of service and lead to higher costs for drivers and passengers.
The insurer, American Transit Insurance Company, provides coverage for about 74,000 for-hire vehicles in the city, or more than 60 percent of the available cars, according to city records.
In its latest financial filing, the privately owned company reported that it was insolvent, with more than $700 million in losses from existing and projected claims from past accidents — a huge hole that has been growing for years in part because of questionable financial practices, according to state officials.
That means American Transit does not have enough money in reserve to pay out those claims despite years of collecting premiums on those policies. Instead, the company has managed to continue operating by using money coming in from new premiums to help cover those costs, essentially leaving its current clients underinsured in the event of an accident, state officials said.
WAYMO IN TALKS WITH HYUNDAIWaymo is looking at Hyundai to build its cars. Reuters reported:
Officials at Waymo and Hyundai Motor have met more than three times to discuss a plan to use Hyundai's Ioniq 5 electric vehicles for Waymo's sixth-generation self-driving technology, the report said, adding that the plan includes replacing offerings, opens new tab from China's Zeekr with the Ioniq 5 models.
The report came as President Joe Biden's administration last week locked in steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles, which will take effect on Sept. 27.
Waymo has purchased vehicles from Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab and Jaguar Land Rover and integrated its technology into the base vehicles to offer autonomous ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Waymo is also testing its next-generation self-driving car technology using vehicles from Zeekr, the electric car brand of China's Geely Automobile Holdings.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers weigh-in on Waymo, dashers time at work and Tesla integrates with Uber. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS WEIGH-IN ON WAYMOUber drivers give their thoughts on Waymo. The Register adds:
Tim — a pseudonym as he asked not to be identified — expects Waymo, the leading maker of self-driving taxis, to broadly under-cut Uber's human-operated ride-hailing service in the US city at some point in 2025, and feels that will be the beginning of the end.
“To put it bluntly, we are cooked,” said one person posting to a forum for San Francisco Uber drivers, in response to my solicitation for thoughts about Waymo. “We're done for. In the age of artificial intelligence and automation, we're the first to be impacted in a major way.”
Tim argues that Waymo, which began offering rides to the general public in San Francisco in June, will use the same business playbook that Uber used to beat its competitors — spend venture capital to price rivals out of the market.
“The second Waymo trips are less than Uber, which is going to happen in 2025, everyone including myself, will just start taking Waymo,” he said.
DOORDASHERS DOING THE WORKDashers spend less time on the gig than you think. Business Insider reported:
About 7 million people made deliveries for DoorDash last year. But, surprisingly, most of them averaged just a few hours a week on the gig.
Seventy-two percent of DoorDash's gig workers devoted less than four hours a week to making deliveries, according to the company. That figure includes just the time that gig workers spend on a delivery. Including downtime between orders, about 62% of workers spent less than four hours a week working for the app.
DoorDash's workforce of independent contractors also skews young and female. Fifty-five percent of DoorDash's workers, whom the company calls “Dashers,” were between 26 and 44 years old in 2023, according to DoorDash. And 60% said they identified as women.
Many of DoorDash's contractors are using the service to make ends meet — either to cover their mortgage, pay off debt, or have income between jobs — in addition to working a full-time position, a 2023 report from the company found. As of 2022, 44% of DoorDash contractors also had a full-time job.
TESLA INTEGRATES WITH UBERTesla integrates with Uber. Electrek adds:
Uber has announced that Tesla drivers using its rideshare app can now send trip navigation automatically to their vehicles.
On top of the navigation, Uber drivers can make the rideshare app aware of their current battery range in order to only send trip request within that range.
Tesla and Uber have also been working together to share data in order to better deploy charging stations in New York City, where there are a lot of Uber drivers using Tesla vehicles.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft verifies in Chicago, Tesla goes Hollywood and bikes get dumped. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
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LYFT ADDS RIDER VERIFICATIONLyft adds rider verification in Chicago, but is it too late? Chicago Sun Times reported:
Ride-hailing company Lyft is piloting a rider verification program in Chicago to crack down on anonymous users and improve drivers' safety — but critics say it's too little, too late, coming three years after a peak of carjackings.
Rider verification is not mandatory, according to Lyft. Instead, verified riders will be marked with a blue check mark that will be seen by drivers before they accept a rider.
Nolberto Casas, a ride-hailing driver and spokesman for Chicago Gig Alliance, called the program “window dressing” and “too little, too late.”
Casas said Lyft's pilot program “puts the onus on the driver. What it says is: We're putting up this mediocre program but unverified riders can still get rides. And you accept them at your own risk. We don't accept that.”
TESLA GOES HOLLYWOODTesla goes Hollywood for its robotaxi reveal. The Verge reported:
Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported that Tesla was planning on using the film studio's lot in Burbank, California, to reveal its next-generation robotaxi on October 10th. (The event was originally supposed to take place on August 8th but was pushed back after Musk ordered more work on the prototype.)
It was an interesting decision considering Tesla mostly likes to hold these types of events on its own turf. But as Bloomberg noted, the 110-acre lot contains over two dozen sound stages, including fake suburban towns that could be an ideal location to test a not-quite-ready-for-primetime autonomous vehicle.
Another glaring hole in Tesla's approach to self-driving is legal liability. To date, the company has been unwilling to accept any liability for crashes involving the company's driver-assistance features, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. In fact, Musk even laughed off a question as to whether his company would accept legal liability for its self-driving vehicles in the future. “There's a lot of people who assume we have legal liability,” Musk has said, “judging by the lawsuits.”
LYFT DUMPS BIKESLyft dumps some bikes. Bloomberg reported:
Lyft Inc. plans to sell some of its bike and scooter business and eliminate 1% of its employees as the ride-hailing company struggles to turn profitable.
Lyft, which operates bikesharing programs in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Minneapolis, issued ambitious three-year growth and profitability targets in June, signaling an effort to turn around its core ridesharing business that has struggled to gain share from rival Uber Technologies Inc. Shares of Lyft have been down 24% this year.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
A Waymo goes way wrong, Uber tweaks its teens, and feds pounce on “screwber”. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO GOES THE WRONG WAYSource: WaymoA robotaxi got a little confused. AZ Family reported:
In a video now going viral on TikTok, two East Valley women caught a self-driving Waymo headed toward them going the wrong way down the street.
The incident happened last week near Rural Road and Apache Boulevard in Tempe — a busy spot, right near the Arizona State campus.
At first, the women thought the Waymo looking confused was funny but then realized the situation was serious. Recent ASU grads Aiselyn Anaya-Hall and Emmie Wuest say they thought they might get into a crash with a Waymo.
“Oh look, a Waymo. Oh look, it's crossing the street. And then oh look, it is pulling into the wrong way,” said Wuest, who was driving her own car when the two witnessed the incident.
The two say they saw a man in the passenger seat of the Waymo car heading into oncoming traffic.
“He couldn't do anything. He just kinda put his hands up. You can't really see it in the video,” said Hall, who took the viral video.
UBER TWEAKS TEENSUber tweaks its teens. Verge reported:
Last year, Uber launched teen accounts in two dozen cities, in which parents and guardians can create accounts for minors aged 13–17. Since then, the list has grown to over 250 cities in all 50 states. Uber says the latest update is in response to feedback from teen users and their families.
Parents and guardians can now hail a ride for their teenager from their own accounts. Previously, rides could only be hailed from the teen customers' accounts. The ride will feature all the same safety features that are available to teens who book their own trips, including notifications when the teenager has started the ride and real-time tracking of the vehicle.
FEDS CHARGE TWO IN “SCREWBER” SCHEMEFeds have charged two people in scheme to swindle Uber riders and drivers. AM NY reported:
Federal prosecutors in New York charged two men with orchestrating a long-running scheme to pocket phony “surge charge” fees and defraud Uber, its drivers, and its customers, in part by using an app called “Screwber.”
The FBI arrested Eliahou Paldiel, 52, of Queens, and Carlos Arturo Suarez Palacios, 54, of Brick Township, NJ. Both appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court on Aug. 28 for arraignment on charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that could land each of them in jail for 40 years.
The pair are accused of selling hacked smartphones pre-installed with the “Screwber” app to 800 separate Uber drivers, which allowed them to learn a customer's destination and fare ahead of accepting a ride, and thus only accept the most lucrative of fares. The pair sold Screwber for a $600 one-time fee plus a $300 monthly subscription.
Separately, an app called “Fake GPS” allowed the drivers to “spoof” their location, allowing them to accept rides experiencing surge pricing ahead of closer drivers. The app also enabled drivers to pretend they were in an airport ride-hail queue before they had actually arrived and skip the virtual line.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
KENYAN DRIVERS DEFY UBERDrivers in Kenya defy Uber to survive. NTV reported:
A bruising price war between ride-hailing companies Uber Technologies, Estonia's Bolt and local start-ups Little and Faras has driven fares down to a level that many drivers say is unsustainable, forcing them to set their own higher rates.
The East African nation of 50 million people has been rocked by deadly protests against tax hikes which, together with high prices of basic commodities and elevated interest rates, has been blamed for lower disposable incomes.
Many say they use walkie-talkie app Zello to collectively agree on higher prices, meaning a customer will get the same rate even if they shop around.
Drivers have also produced a fare guide, which they print, laminate and post up inside their cars for customers to see.
UBER'S BALLOT PUSH IN NEVADAUber's big spend in Nevada may be just the beginning. Fast Company reported:
In recent months, Uber has quietly pledged millions of dollars in support of a somewhat obscure ballot measure in Nevada. A New York Times report last week revealed that the ridesharing company has invested $5 million into Nevadans for Fair Recovery, a political action committee created by Uber — and the driving force behind the ballot campaign.
This might seem like an unusual position for Uber to stake out. The company has framed the ballot measure as a win for plaintiffs, since it would curtail attorneys' fees. But the Times report, along with plaintiffs' attorneys who have spoken out against the proposal, have argued it is more likely a strategy to reduce the number of lawsuits and legal claims Uber is facing over driver misconduct. (Multiple cases involve sexual assault allegations from passengers in Nevada.)
It can already be difficult for workers and other plaintiffs to find a lawyer who will take their case on a contingency basis. In cases that involve employment discrimination, for example, the potential payout can be relatively low, since federal law caps damages at $300,000 even for large companies. (The general counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, has criticized this cap and called it “outdated.”)
UBER HIRES EX-TESLAUber hires an ex-Tesla executive to oversee EV. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. has hired former Tesla Inc. executive Rebecca Tinucci to oversee the ride-hailing platform's shift to electric vehicles, tapping a veteran who helped open the carmaker's charging network to other car brands.
In the new role, Tinucci will oversee Uber's transition to a zero-emissions platform. The company is aiming for all of its rides and deliveries globally to be made using zero-emission vehicles by 2040. It's also working to eliminate unnecessary plastic waste from restaurant deliveries and to use more sustainable packaging.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
GenZ joins gig work, Uber fights lawsuits, and issues with robotaxis. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
GENZ JOINS GIG WORKGenZ joins the gig work movement. NBC Miami reported:
According to Bankrate more than 48% of GenZers and 44% of Millennials has a side hustle. Also, parents or guardians of kids younger than 18 are 45% more likely to have a side hustle.
The study shares that the average side hustler makes more than $890 a month in extra income. Those who identify as side hustlers, more than 50% of them have only been making side money for two years or less.
Bankrate says 37% of side hustlers use their income to fund purchases, 36% for regular living expenses, 31% save a portion of their funds, 20% put a down payment on a home and 16% are hoping to make it their only revenue stream.
UBER TRIES TO STOP LAWSUITSUber is looking to stomp out lawsuits. NY Times reported:
The company is seeking to place a measure on Nevada's ballot that would drastically limit the amount of money that lawyers could collect when they brought successful lawsuits. If the measure passes, it will make it less attractive — and in some cases financially impractical — for plaintiffs' lawyers to file such suits.
The initiative is being spearheaded by Nevadans for Fair Recovery, a political action committee created this year by Uber and its lobbyists. The company has put $5 million into the PAC and is its only financial backer, campaign finance records show.
Contingency fees allow lawyers to take on cases without requiring clients to pay anything out of pocket. Lawyers shoulder the costs of bringing the lawsuit in exchange for a cut of any settlement or judgment. Large payments in successful cases help cover the costs of lawsuits that do not yield any money. But businesses have long complained that high contingency fees drive up costs for the public and exist primarily to enrich lawyers.
UBER UNIMPRESSED WITH TESLA'S ROBOTAXISUber's CEO sees major issues with Tesla's robotaxi plan. The Street reported:
Khosrowshahi claimed that Tesla's robotaxi plan, which will allow Tesla owners to rent out their vehicles to be used as driverless taxis for a profit, may not get the thumbs up from Tesla owners.
He said that it is “not clear” to him that the average Tesla owner will want to have their car “be ridden in by a complete stranger.”
He also stated that allowing Tesla owners to rent out their cars for taxi services will make it difficult to manage the “peaks and valleys” associated with supply and demand.
“It just so happens that probably the times at which you're going to want your Tesla are probably going to be the same times that ridership is going to be at a peak,” said Khosrowshahi.
Khosrowshahi also revealed during the interview that he is skeptical about society's acceptance of driverless vehicles due to worries about safety, and how people are more accepting of mistakes from human drivers than robots, which can pose a challenge for robotaxis.
The CEO also highlighted that the rideshare industry is “very” different from the business of building vehicles, which Tesla has expertise in, and that a lot can go wrong such as car accidents, passengers getting sick or losing items in cars or wanting to pay in cash.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Educating gig workers, Uber goes AV, and Lyft ‘opens a can of whoop ass'. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
EDUCATING GIG WORKERS
One of the biggest issues gig workers face, is educating gig work. Forbes explains:
While self-employment and the gig economy promise freedom and flexibility, they come with significant costs. Given that a majority of Americans cannot answer basic financial literacy questions, that leaves these 5 million Americans left to navigate the landscape of self-employment in the dark.
Because these workers are “independent contractors,” they are not covered by the basic worker protection laws nor do they receive employment-based health insurance, unemployment insurance, retirement benefits, paid sick leave, or workers' compensation when injured on the job.
It's easy to forget that gig workers routinely are forced to work with broken limbs and severe illness in order to put food on the table. A recent study found that one in five gig workers live in a household where someone avoided a doctor or hospital visit because of the cost, while the Economic Policy Institute found that nearly nearly one in five workers went hungry in the last month, thirty percent of gig workers used SNAP to pay for groceries; and nearly a third could not pay all of their monthly utility bills.
UBER GOES BIG ON AV
Uber drives into AV as Tesla is hot on its tail. TechCrunch reported:
Uber said in its second-quarter results statement that the number of trips performed by autonomous vehicles rose 6x from a year earlier — up from what the company didn't say. And, the first thing Uber highlighted in its presentation deck was AVs in a section titled, “Autonomous Vehicle Spotlight.” It detailed how the ride-hail and delivery giant has the right utilization, consumer experience and go-to-market expertise to “drive the greatest value for AV partners.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly described Tesla's future robotaxi network as having a similar business model to Uber and Airbnb, where Tesla owners could add their properly equipped vehicles to the carmaker's own ridesharing app. In places where there aren't enough people to share their cars, Tesla would provide a dedicated fleet of robotaxis.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday's earnings call that he's confident Uber will be able to “acquire AV content…on a global basis.”
LYFT OPENS A CAN OF WHOOP ASS
Lyft goes big on curbing surge pricing. TechCrunch reported:
Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a specific time,” according to CEO David Risher.
The feature is designed to address the inconsistencies of surge pricing, particularly for commuters who use the Lyft app every day. It's part of Lyft's broader plan to “open up a can of whoop ass on primetime,” Risher said Wednesday during Lyft's second-quarter earnings call.
Over the past year, Lyft has made a concerted effort to reduce the number of rides impacted by surge pricing. Risher noted that on a quarterly basis, that number declined by 25%, which he said contributes to better conversion rates.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The dirty truth about delivery, Uber goes AV, and drivers get unlocked. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
AN UBER EATS STORYOne Uber Eats worker shares life as a delivery driver. Business Insider reported:
In May 2023, I got laid off from my full-time job in SEO and started driving for Uber Eats to pay my rent. I would recommend doing literally anything else than delivering food for a living.
It was a really bad time in my life, and in 10 months, I made about $9,000.
I would start my days at 5 a.m. and work until midnight. You usually get less than $1 per mile, but Uber will also suggest deliveries that aren't worth it, like a $3 delivery — but from point A to point B is 12 miles.
That's before factoring in gas, which you cover yourself and is around $4 a gallon where I live. Taking all those orders means you're almost paying Uber to work. Maybe only one out of every 40 orders is truly worth your time
I could be waiting around for hours, too. Sometimes, I needed to make money to eat, so I would throw a couple of gallons of gas in and only take home $20.
That meant I couldn't pay bills — I was just making enough to survive. Fortunately, I had a good support system of friends to fall back on. If it wasn't for them, I would've been sleeping in my car.
Uber hides the tip the customer has entered, so it's difficult to tell how much you'll make from a delivery until you've accepted it.
The fee structure encourages the customers to wonder why they should tip when they're already paying all these fees. People see the delivery fee on their order and think the driver receives it, but that's not the case.
UBER USES BYD CARS IN EUROPEUber plans to use 100,000 electric cars in Europe and develop AV. CNBC reported:
Uber and BYD announced Wednesday that drivers on the ride-hailing platform can get pricing and financing deals for the Chinese company's electric cars, starting in Europe and Latin America.
The two companies will also develop “autonomous-capable vehicles” for Uber's platform, according to a press release.
The multi-year strategic partnership, which the companies said could bring 100,000 BYD cars to Uber, comes despite the EU following the U.S. this year in raising tariffs on imports of Chinese-made electric cars.
Shenzhen-based BYD has become a dominant player in China's electric car market. The company surpassed Tesla in total vehicle production for two straight years and has ramped up overseas expansion, including investments in factories abroad.
NYC FIGHTS OVER LOCKOUTSNYC mayor hails a win for drivers but they see it differently. SI Live reported:
Under the agreement Adams touted, Uber will begin to phase out the lockout practices with the company ending the practice entirely by Labor Day if Lyft maintains an annual company utilization rate of at least 50%.
As part of the agreement, both companies will also pause bringing on new drivers, in an effort increase utilization rates and allow more work for existing drivers. Lyft will minimize lockouts as the onboarding pause continues, according to Adams' office.
Bhairavi Desai — the head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and someone who Adams' administration has stood with in the past — said the agreement on driver lockouts amounts to little more than a handout to the ride share giants while trying to curb a growing labor movement among the drivers.
“The real goal of this phony deal is to try to demobilize the thousands of drivers who've made it clear that they're ready to strike. Unfortunately, the city seems more interested in a photo-op and an easy press victory than actually fighting for drivers,” Desai said in a statement published on X. “But drivers don't need photo-ops and they aren't afraid of taking on Uber, Lyft or City Hall. We reject this corporate give-away, and we'll continue mobilizing until the lockouts end for everyone, all the loopholes are closed, and every driver is paid for every hour worked.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Workers get injured, an app arms drivers, and the queen of rideshare mafia. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
HALF OF ALL AMAZON WORKERS GET INJUREDAmazon Prime Day Sales offer a lot more than discounts. Scripps News reported:
Nearly half of Amazon's warehouse workers are injured during its Prime Day savings event, a Senate committee's investigation found.
On Monday, one day before this year's two-day sale began on July 16, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, published a report claiming the company's warehouses are “especially unsafe” during the event and that “the company knows it."
The report states Amazon's total injury rate — which includes those the company isn't required to disclose to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — during its 2019 Prime Day event was “just under” 45 injuries per 100 workers, according to Amazon's internal data. And when counting only those that are required to be disclosed to OSHA, the rate was more than 10 injuries per 100 workers, which is more than twice the industry average, the report states.
These injuries include everything from bruises and superficial cuts to torn rotator cuffs and concussions, the latter of which Sanders alleged is more often underreported. He also claims Amazon's history of underrecording serious injuries means the true number sustained on the job is likely higher.
BLACKWOLF APP ARMS DRIVERSA new app aims to arm drivers. Chicago Business reported:
The BlackWolf app launched in Atlanta in 2023 with the stated goal of making ride-hailing safer. Not only are drivers armed, they are also all former military, police or private security with at least four years of protective experience.
Founder Kerry KingBrown said the guns are meant to emit the perception of safety, but drivers' backgrounds in those protective professions are what should give passengers peace of mind.
BlackWolf recently applied for an operating license from Chicago's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which rideshare firms must be granted before launching in the city. The BACP told Crain's the BlackWolf application did not comply with its instructions and legal requirements, and the department had notified the company it needed to be corrected.
QUEEN OF THE RIDESHARE MAFIAOne woman was responsible for creating thousands of fake driver accounts. Wired reported:
Over the next few weeks, she would click through the driver onboarding process on both Uber and Lyft, reading over the steps to create her own account, mulling the risk. Finally, lying in bed on Christmas night, the first one she'd spent without her family, it was time: She opened her phone and scrolled to the blonde woman's license. Barbosa uploaded the license to the Uber app. She used the woman's name but her own insurance and registration. She entered her own iCloud email and phone number and set her own picture — brown hair, brown eyes — on the driver profile. She made up a Social Security number, submitted the application, and went to sleep.
The next day, Uber approved the account. Like that, Barbosa was in business for herself.
The government said she pushed out some 2,000 accounts, using hundreds of driver's licenses, and profited more than $780,000. Barbosa says about half of that was her actual take. The rest she either split with her business partners or sent along to the immigrants who didn't have their own bank accounts and used hers. (The government conceded in court filings that Barbosa did let other people use her bank account.)
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Drivers fight back, data tells all, and Uber gives insights. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS FIGHT BACKChicago rideshare drivers are fighting back against deactivations. Capital & Main explains:
Chicago rideshare drivers gathered between the first and second terminals of O'Hare International Airport on June 25 to launch their latest call for change: an end to “unfair deactivations.”
Chicago rideshare drivers have already been pushing for passage of the Chicago Rideshare Living Wage and Safety Ordinance, known as the FairShare Ordinance, introduced last year. That legislation would raise drivers' pay, give them two weeks' notice before deactivation and require Uber and Lyft to share deactivation details with city regulators and drivers, among other new regulations.
Last week's demonstration linked the Chicago effort to a national campaign protesting deactivations, Activate Respect, coordinated by the Chicago Gig Alliance, which supports area workers in food delivery, rideshare and other industries; Gig Workers Rising, a California-based organization advocating for app-based workers; and several other groups. Organizers estimate that 100 drivers demonstrated between Chicago, Denver and San Jose.
For Moses, deactivation has been confounding — and devastating.
After being locked out of his Uber account, Moses went to the company's Chicago office to get an explanation. A company representative told him that the deactivation stemmed from a customer who said they “felt uncomfortable with me,” he said. “As you and I know — that could mean anything,” Moses said, gesturing toward his hand to imply anti-Black racial bias. He said he has since made multiple phone calls seeking greater detail, but has not been able to reach anyone.
DATA REVEALS IMPACT OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWNew data reveals the impact of NYC's new minimum wage law. GeekWire reported:
Delivery drivers working for platforms such as DoorDash and Uber Eats in New York City saw wages grow by more than $7 per hour following implementation of a new minimum wage law, according to report shared by city officials.
The report said that while pay per hour increased substantially, tips per hour fell 60% year-over-year. The companies changed tipping mechanisms within their apps after the law went into effect.
Other takeaways from the report (see in full below):
The number of total workers fell by 9% year-over-year.
Total consumer spending rose by 10% to $108.3 million.
Fees paid by consumers rose to an average of $20.1 million per week, or a 58% year-over-year increase.
DoorDash and Uber have strongly opposed the new regulations. They implemented new consumer fees in what was described by the companies as a way to offset the pay standards.
UBER LETS YOU SEE FARES AND WAIT TIMESUber rolls out a new feature. The Verge explains:
Uber rolled out a new update that lets users search average fares and wait times for planned trips in other cities. The company said it wants to give people who are planning trips or vacations more visibility into how much it will cost to book Uber rides when they get there.
The update will give people access to fare and wait time details in approximately 10,000 cities globally, Uber says. The change rolls out starting on Tuesday, July 16th.
Uber said it wanted to “take the guess work” out of travel, especially with millions of people expected to make the trip to Paris for the Olympics. The company is also offering a number of other perks in connection with the Olympics, including a partnership with Flying Blue, the loyalty program for Air France-KLM Group, and champagne tours and river cruises bookable through the Uber app.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo “freaks out”, Uber cuts fares and teens ignite an old debate. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO “FREAKS OUT”A Waymo vehicle freaked out in Phoenix. The Verge reported:
In about two-and-a-half minutes of bodycam footage published by AZCentral, the officer told Waymo the car was driving in a construction zone when it “went into opposing lanes of traffic, which is real bad.” He then told a curious bystander what had happened, adding, “so I light it up and it takes off in the intersection.” A dispatch record reportedly said the car drove through a red light and ‘FREAKED OUT' before it pulled over.
Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli told The Verge in an email that the vehicle, which had no passengers, drove into the oncoming lane when it “encountered inconsistent construction signage,” and that “it was blocked from navigating back into the correct lane.” It stayed in the oncoming lane for about 30 seconds, Bonelli said, before the officer pulled behind the car, at which point it drove away from the cop “in an effort to clear the intersection” before pulling into the parking lot where the traffic stop took place. “The entire event,” he added, “lasted approximately one minute.”
UBER CUTS FARES IN AUSTRALIAUber uses loopholes to cut fares in Australia. The Guardian reported:
Last week, Uber told drivers that rider fares would be cut from 7 August. The company has not told drivers the exact amount, but it is understood it would be an average of less than 5%.
Uber said the adjustments were because of the current economic environment and local market conditions — not a reaction to minimum standards that would likely be set on driver conditions by the Fair Work Commission under the closing loopholes legislation, which takes effect on 26 August.
While Uber has supported the legislation, drivers say the fare cut is a clear response to prepare for changes likely to come from Fair Work.
Shane Millsom, a Brisbane-based driver and the secretary of the driver advocate organisation Rideshare Driver Network, called the Uber announcement disappointing but not unexpected.
“The new closing loopholes legislation comes into effect shortly, so Uber has deliberately lowered the starting point for negotiations,” he told Guardian Australia.
UBER FOR TEENS IGNITES OLD DEBATEUber for Teens ignites an old debate. TechCrunch reported:
Seven years ago, Uber and Lyft blocked an effort to require ride-hailing app drivers to get fingerprinted in California. But by launching Uber for Teens earlier this year, the company inadvertently resurfaced the issue.
Uber for Teens launched in February in California, allowing kids aged 13 to 17 to order their own rides under a parent's account. Public documents show Uber reached out to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) seeking clarity on a 2016 ruling that said any transportation network company whose business involved “primarily transporting minors” would need to enforce strict background checks for drivers, including fingerprinting.
Uber argues that it doesn't need fingerprinting to ensure adequate background checks. Aside from a motor vehicle report, Uber checks drivers for all criminal convictions, including sexual offenses. The company said in a June filing with the CPUC that it also reruns both of those driver checks annually and “monitors California drivers continuously for disqualifying criminal offenses and driving violations.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber locks out drivers, Waymo expands and Uber loses in California. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER LOCKS OUT DRIVERSUber is locking out drivers in NYC. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. has begun locking New York City drivers out of its app during periods of low demand in an attempt to fight a minimum wage rule, and Lyft Inc. is threatening to do the same. As a result, some drivers say their wages have fallen by as much as 50%.
The lockouts occur unpredictably, making it difficult for drivers to plan work shifts and treat Uber as a full-time job. Sometimes these episodes can last over an hour.
An Uber spokesperson said that access to the platform is based on rider demand at any given time and place. If demand drops too far below supply, the company will temporarily shut drivers out.
Nikoloz Tsulukidze, who drives full time for Uber, said that he has been getting shut out of the app four or five times a day.
WAYMO EXPANDS INTO LAWaymo expands into LA. La-ist reported:
A regulatory board unanimously reaffirmed Waymo's ability to operate its driverless taxi service in Los Angeles, just days after a bill that would have let local governments regulate the driverless cars stalled in the state legislature.
How L.A. officials are responding: By and large, cities and municipalities where Waymo is operating want more regulatory power over the driverless cars, and L.A. is no exception. Mayor Karen Bass has warned of potential “adverse impacts on the residents of Los Angeles” if the city doesn't gain more oversight over the cars' operation.
Can local agencies regulate the cars?: They don't have very much power to do so now — driverless cars are largely regulated by the CPUC and Department of Motor Vehicles, not by local jurisdictions. A bill that would have given cities more ability to impose regulations on driverless cars was withdrawn after stalling in committee earlier this week.
Where is Waymo operating?: The company is currently operating on the Westside and Central L.A., between Santa Monica and downtown L.A. The company got the go-ahead to operate its driverless vehicles under 65 mph on freeways, but it's still sticking to surface streets for customers for now.
UBER LOSES IN CAUber loses in California. Ny Post reported:
A US appeals court on Monday rejected a bid by Uber, opening a new tab and subsidiary Postmates to revive a challenge to a California law that could force the companies to treat drivers as employees rather than independent contractors who are typically less expensive.
An 11-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court ruling that said Uber failed to show that the 2020 state law known as AB5 unfairly singled out app-based transportation companies while exempting other industries.
Uber in a statement on Monday said the ruling would not change the status of its relationships with its drivers, who are considered to be contractors under a 2020 ballot initiative known as Proposition 22.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Waymo recalls over 600 cars, a driver makes $80 a week and how many passengers tip? LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WAYMO RECALLS 600+ SELF-DRIVING CARSWaymo has recalled more than 600 self-driving cars. Fox 10 reported:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its report that last month a driverless Waymo vehicle hit a wooden utility pole in Phoenix while it was in an alleyway and trying to perform a low-speed pullover maneuver.
Waymo has completed a software update that improves the automated driving system's response to poles or pole-like permanent objects. It also provided a map update to include a hard road edge between the pole or pole-like object and the driveable surface.
“Following an event on May 21 in Phoenix, we have chosen to file a voluntary software recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to address a mapping and software issue. We have already deployed mapping and software updates across our entire fleet, and this does not impact our current operations. As we serve more riders in more cities, we will continue our safety first approach, working to earn trust with our riders, community members, regulators, and policymakers.”
$80 IN ONE WEEKOne driver came home with $80…after a week of work. CNBC reported:
When he and his wife divorced, he was earning less than $25,000 a year after taxes, alimony, child support and other debt payments. In 2016, he decided to turn to ride-sharing to make some extra money.
He eventually wrote his memoir about all that followed.
To earn “a decent hourly wage,” Rigsby told CNBC earlier this month, “you're forced to work long hours at odd times and to rely on bonuses and tips and surge payments.”
He aimed to make $250 a week on the road, but this wasn't always possible. After his car expenses, he earned just $80 one week.
TIPPING UBER/LYFT DRIVERSHow often do passengers tip their drivers? Business Insider reported:
An analysis of over 500,000 US gig drivers provided to BI by Gridwise, a data-analytics company that helps drivers track their earnings, found that roughly 28% of Uber and Lyft ride-hailing trips get tips, compared to 87% of food-delivery trips and 74% of grocery trips. The analysis was based on US tipping data between January 1 and June 6.
Tips can be especially important for people who drive full-time and, therefore, are more reliant on their ride-hailing incomes. According to Gridwise data, roughly 30% of US Uber drivers drove at least 25 hours a week in the first quarter of 2024.
Carrie, a five-star rideshare driver since 2015, said she's driven in a handful of states but has never made above $30 an hour. A few weeks ago, she drove 90 trips and only got tipped for six of them, which was just $38.52. She said she's had drivers tell her they wish they could tip her but didn't have the funds at the moment.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The real winner of the Minneapolis deal, Uber takes a loss and PA drives up safety. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVER WAGES IN MINNEAPOLISThe new deal in Minneapolis may be a big win for Uber. The Guardian explains:
On 20 May, the city council heralded a compromise with the ride-hailing companies. Uber and Lyft would agree to an inflation-pegged wage floor matching Minnesota's minimum wage of $15 an hour after expenses. Some lawmakers have hailed this as a 20% raise for drivers — however, the deal's pay rates are lower than almost every proposal made over the past two years amid a bitter fight between Uber, Lyft, their drivers and lawmakers.
Moving away from data transparency creates a huge hole in the bill. Uber and Lyft reportedly lobbied to block any guarantee of minimum earnings on every trip. Instead, ride-hail firms will top off drivers whose average earnings are below the minimum during a two-week pay period. And while the bill codifies pay transparency on the driver's end, it dropped the ordinance's requirement that ride-hail firms make regular and unrestricted data disclosures to Minneapolis.
UBER LOSES CHALLENGE TO CA GIG WORK LAWUber takes an L over challenging California law. Reuters explains:
A U.S. appeals court on Monday rejected a bid by Uber and subsidiary Postmates to revive a challenge to a California law that could force the companies to treat drivers as employees rather than independent contractors who are typically less expensive.
An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court ruling that said Uber failed to show that the 2020 state law known as AB5 unfairly singled out app-based transportation companies while exempting other industries.
Uber in a statement on Monday said the ruling would not change the status of its relationships with its drivers, who are considered to be contractors under a 2020 ballot initiative known as Proposition 22.
The fate of Prop 22 is being weighed in a separate case at the state's top court, which last month heard arguments from a labor union and four drivers contending the ballot measure was unconstitutional.
NEW PROPOSAL IN PA REQUIRES EXTRA SAFETYA new proposal in PA aims at increasing safety for passengers. CBS News reported:
According to the memo written by Rep. Tim Brennan (D-Bucks County), 50% of all 18-to-29-year-olds and 24% of adults aged 50 and older have used a rideshare service.
Under the new proposed legislation, drivers would need to take measures to properly identify themselves throughout their vehicle, including identification with their photo, name, and license plate number of the vehicle they are driving.
There are three main focuses of the proposed legislation; drivers will need to have the following:
Markers or signs that can be illuminated
Barcodes in the rear and passenger windows
Credential placards
The bill has yet to be introduced and Rep. Brennan is asking other members to support the proposed legislation.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Dara's plea to Japan, drivers with guns, and lack of flexibility. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DARA WANTS JAPAN TO ALLOW INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORSDara has an ask for Japan: let drivers work as independent contractors. Kyodo News reported:
Uber Technologies Inc.'s top executive urged Japan to allow rideshare drivers to work independently, rather than obliging them to work under taxi companies, under a scheme meant to address labor shortages in the local industry.
“There would be a lot more people willing to become rideshare drivers if they could work flexibly as independent contractors,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at a press conference in Tokyo, adding that the Japanese version of ride-sharing has been slow to take off since a ban on such services was only partially lifted in April.
Under the current system, which was introduced to address a nationwide shortage of taxi drivers, taxi firms can employ and manage standard license holders to offer rideshare services with their private vehicles under certain conditions.
Amid persistent safety concerns, Khosrowshahi said that safety is a priority while stressing that it is one of the top reasons customers in other markets choose Uber due to its incorporation of technology features and partnerships.
UBER BUT WITH GUNSA new rideshare service comes with armed drivers. Axios reported:
Black Wolf, a gun-toting, TikTok famous rideshare service, recently expanded to Miami with a fleet of armed drivers from police, military and security backgrounds.
Zoom in: Founder Kerry KingBrown — a private security guard and University of Miami alumnus — launched the company in Atlanta in 2023 and now has 25 drivers across Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other Florida cities.
How it works: Riders can request an armed or unarmed driver.
The drivers must have at least four years of policing, military or private security experience, KingBrown says.
Front-facing cameras in the car record live video of the trip.
REVEL LAYS OFF 1000 DRIVERSRevel is laying off 1000 staff rideshare drivers and moving to Uber's model. TechCrunch reported:
After dropping the moped-sharing business in 2023, Revel is pivoting once again to abandon one of the main things that made its ride-hail service unique: The startup is laying off its 1,000+ drivers and embracing a gig worker model similar to that of rivals Lyft and Uber.
The move comes after Revel successfully piloted the model in late February with 100 Revel drivers and has since brought on 100 more.
“The reason we ran this pilot in the first place was just increasing feedback from our driver pool, as well as in our recruitment efforts,” Haley Rubinson, vice president of corporate affairs at Revel, told TechCrunch. “The leading reason people didn't want to join Revel was the lack of flexibility.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Prop 22 is on the line, Uber decides to stay, and drivers see through the pricing. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
PROP 22'S FINAL TESTThe fight against Prop 22 has hit its final test. SF Gate reported:
On Tuesday, California's Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the 2020 law that classifies Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors rather than full-fledged employees. In a courtroom in San Francisco's Earl Warren Building, the justices listened to and questioned three lawyers — one representing drivers, one representing a coalition of gig companies and another representing the state of California.
Hector Castellanos watched it all from the middle of the courtroom. The Antioch driver is the lead plaintiff for this yearslong bid to overturn Prop. 22, and his litigation is now finally reaching an end. Wearing a tired but hopeful expression and a “Gig Workers Rising” shirt, Castellanos spoke with SFGATE on the front steps of the building after the arguments.
“The drivers, we are suffering,” he said, arguing that Uber and Lyft lied to the public about how the initiative would affect gig workers. Drivers for gig companies don't have adequate sick days, pay or workers' compensation benefits, he said.
UBER STAYS IN MINNESOTAAfter a new deal was reached, Uber decided to stay in Minnesota. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has said he will sign into law a bill that ends the threat of Uber and Lyft leaving the Twin Cities area and sets statewide compensation rates for ride-hailing services.
In Minnesota, Walz announced a deal with lawmakers over the weekend that he said would give drivers statewide a 20% raise from current compensation levels, which are not set by law.
According to the analysis, the per-mile rate under the city ordinance would have been set at $1.40 plus a 51-cents-per-minute charge. The analysis said hourly take-home pay after expenses and taxes would have been $28.35, with pre-expense earnings at $43.73.
The news service said the final agreement in the state law calls for minimum compensation of $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute, yielding pre-expense average compensation of $34.58 an hour and post-expense compensation of $19.89 an hour.
UBER SURGE IS ALL THE TIMEDriver's in London are claiming Uber's surge pricing never ends. 9to5 Mac reported:
But drivers protesting outside Uber's London headquarters claim that so-called “dynamic pricing” is now in effect 24/7.
Additionally, they told Wired that where Uber used to take a fixed and transparent 25% commission on the amount paid by riders, with drivers receiving the balance, the company now sometimes takes much higher percentages — and doesn't allow them to see the split.
To prove the point, they have been logging in as riders to request rides, seeing how much they are quoted, and then how much the driver is offered. In one example, the rider was quoted £46 ($58) while the driver was only offered £26 ($33). That meant Uber was taking a 43% commission.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Prop 22 is on the line, Uber decides to stay, and drivers see through the pricing. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
PROP 22'S FINAL TESTThe fight against Prop 22 has hit its final test. SF Gate reported:
On Tuesday, California's Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the 2020 law that classifies Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors rather than full-fledged employees. In a courtroom in San Francisco's Earl Warren Building, the justices listened to and questioned three lawyers — one representing drivers, one representing a coalition of gig companies and another representing the state of California.
Hector Castellanos watched it all from the middle of the courtroom. The Antioch driver is the lead plaintiff for this yearslong bid to overturn Prop. 22, and his litigation is now finally reaching an end. Wearing a tired but hopeful expression and a “Gig Workers Rising” shirt, Castellanos spoke with SFGATE on the front steps of the building after the arguments.
“The drivers, we are suffering,” he said, arguing that Uber and Lyft lied to the public about how the initiative would affect gig workers. Drivers for gig companies don't have adequate sick days, pay or workers' compensation benefits, he said.
UBER STAYS IN MINNESOTAAfter a new deal was reached, Uber decided to stay in Minnesota. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has said he will sign into law a bill that ends the threat of Uber and Lyft leaving the Twin Cities area and sets statewide compensation rates for ride-hailing services.
In Minnesota, Walz announced a deal with lawmakers over the weekend that he said would give drivers statewide a 20% raise from current compensation levels, which are not set by law.
According to the analysis, the per-mile rate under the city ordinance would have been set at $1.40 plus a 51-cents-per-minute charge. The analysis said hourly take-home pay after expenses and taxes would have been $28.35, with pre-expense earnings at $43.73.
The news service said the final agreement in the state law calls for minimum compensation of $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute, yielding pre-expense average compensation of $34.58 an hour and post-expense compensation of $19.89 an hour.
UBER SURGE IS ALL THE TIMEDriver's in London are claiming Uber's surge pricing never ends. 9to5 Mac reported:
But drivers protesting outside Uber's London headquarters claim that so-called “dynamic pricing” is now in effect 24/7.
Additionally, they told Wired that where Uber used to take a fixed and transparent 25% commission on the amount paid by riders, with drivers receiving the balance, the company now sometimes takes much higher percentages — and doesn't allow them to see the split.
To prove the point, they have been logging in as riders to request rides, seeing how much they are quoted, and then how much the driver is offered. In one example, the rider was quoted £46 ($58) while the driver was only offered £26 ($33). That meant Uber was taking a 43% commission.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Gig work is up, Uber gets out, and losses pile on. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
GIG WORKERS ON THE RISEAs high-paying jobs are harder to find, workers are turning to rideshare. Business Insider reported:
The share of Bank of America customers receiving income from ride-hailing nearly tripled from less than 0.4% in March 2020 to about 1.2% as of March, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, according to a Bank of America Institute report that analyzed internal company data and was published in late April.
BofA also found that many more Americans are going “all in” on gig work. The share of gig workers who received gig income every month of the year increased from about 3% in the 12 months preceding February 2023 to 4% in the 12 months preceding February 2024 — much of this growth came from ride-hailing. Since 2022, it's become increasingly common for gig workers not to have a traditional job, compared to those who do it as a side hustle, BofA found.
Some Americans may be turning to gig work like ride-hailing because they've struggled to boost their income. Job growth is slowing, job openings have fallen from record levels, and April data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday suggests it's getting more difficult to find higher-wage employment.
UBER/LYFT LEAVE MINNESOTA ENTIRELYUber's threats have turned into a promise. FOX9 reported:
After Minnesota state legislators and Minneapolis council members announced a compromise on wage legislation for Uber and Lyft drivers, the ride-hailing companies are now threatening to leave Minnesota entirely.
Previously, Lyft had only threatened to leave Minneapolis, once the pay raise ordinance went into effect, but had planned to continue service in the rest of the metro and state. Uber had said it would leave Minneapolis and potentially the entire metro because of the ordinance.
Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Minneapolis) says the newly agreed-upon rates match rates in other states and are below rates in Washington state — where both Uber and Lyft still operate.
When asked, Rep. Long said he believes Lyft's threats are a bluff by the company to negotiate a better deal.
UBER LOSES $646 MILLIONUber starts 2024 with a crash. The Verge explains:
In 2023, Uber achieved an important milestone, earning more money than it spent for a full year for the first time. It was widely seen as a sign that the perennially cash-strapped business was finally on a more sustainable path.
Today, there are signs that the journey may be longer than we thought.
The ridehailing and delivery company reported a surprise net loss of $654 million for the first quarter of the year, as legal settlements and equity investments proved to be more of a drag on Uber's business than many expected.
So why the loss? In short, legal settlements, stock holdings in other companies, and fewer rides in key markets like Latin America. All of these factors have the appearance of being unrelated to Uber's business of delivering people and goods — but they are also extremely reflective of the company's core business model.
It's no secret that Uber classifies its drivers as independent contractors as a way to reduce labor costs and position itself as simply an app that connects customers to enterprising freelancers who work for multiple ridehailing and delivery companies. And yet, for years, the company has fought against attempts by local legislatures and courts to reclassify its drivers as employees and pay them better.
The company has spent tens of billions of dollars to oppose these efforts, and while it occasionally wins, it doesn't seem to be any closer to putting the issue to rest.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
$44 million awarded, riders get checked, and robotaxis get confused. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
$44 MILLION LAWSUITThe family of a murdered Lyft driver has been rewarded $44 million. Chicago Sun Times reported:
Kristian Philpotts, 29, accepted a request for a ride in Urbana on Jan. 12, 2022. During the ride, Philpotts was shot by the passenger, Tyjohn Williams of Champaign, according to criminal charges.
Williams, now 18, is accused of requesting the ride using his mother's account. He allegedly got inside the vehicle with two other people, pulled out a gun and shot Philpotts in the back. Philpotts died shortly after.
Champaign County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin W. Dyer awarded the family $44,724,193 at a hearing on damages Friday. The family now will seek to collect on that award from Williams and his mother.
“Criminals must be held accountable when they destroy lives, families and communities,” said attorney Bryant Greening, of LegalRideshare LLC. “KP and his family suffered an unimaginable loss. While this award does not bring KP back, it does serve as a source of justice.”
RIDER VERIFCATION HITS CHICAGORiders will now be “verified” in 12 cities, including Chicago. ABC 7 Chicago reported:
Riders will now be “verified” to make sure they are who they claim to be. Uber said this is in response to security and safety concerns that drivers have in Chicago and other cities.
Uber says most people will automatically get verified without doing a thing. Uber will cross reference personal information that they already have in your account, no ID required. That completes the verification process for the vast majority of people.
The verification process is a pilot program. It will not perform criminal background checks on riders.
WAYMO TAXIS BLOCK TRAFFICTraffic cones caused confusion for robotaxis. TechCrunch reported:
Six Waymo robotaxis blocked traffic moving onto the Potrero Avenue 101 on-ramp in San Francisco on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., according to video of the incident posted to Reddit and confirmation from Waymo.
After hitting the road closure, the first Waymo vehicle in the lineup then pulled over out of the traffic lane that was blocked by cones, followed by six other Waymo robotaxis. Human-driven cars were then stuck behind some of the robotaxis; a video posted online shows fed-up drivers getting out of their cars to physically move the cones out of the way so they could pass both the road closure and the stalled Waymos.
It's not the first time Waymo vehicles have caused a road blockage, but this is the first documented incident involving a freeway.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
High pay myths, AV food delivery and the future of rideshare. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
PAYING DRIVERS MORE =/= HIGHER FARESUber's classic threat has turned out to be false. Truthout.org reported:
Our team analyzed over a billion rideshare trips, comparing four years of data in Chicago and New York. These are two of the biggest rideshare markets in the U.S.
If Uber's argument was true, fares should have gone up more in New York after the pay standard took effect. In fact, the opposite happened. Over the four years we studied, Uber and Lyft raised fares by 54% in Chicago, where drivers have no pay protections. In New York, they only increased fares by 36%. The reality just doesn't match Uber's scare tactics.
UBER EATS GOES AVFood delivery in Phoenix gets a lot more automated. Fast Company reported:
Uber Eats will start delivering some orders in the Phoenix area via Waymo's autonomous vehicles on Wednesday, expanding on a multiyear partnership that already includes the self-driving cars shepherding passengers around town.
Customers who have their food delivered by a Waymo will receive an in-app notification to take their phone outside to unlock the vehicle and pick up the items ordered. Users, who place an order where autonomous delivery is available, will be able to opt out of the tech at checkout if they prefer to have a courier deliver their food.
MINNEAPOLIS AFTER UBERWhat does Minneapolis look like after Uber leaves? MPR news reported:
Uber and Lyft have promised to end service in Minneapolis on May 1 because of a dispute with the city over driver pay. The situation leaves drivers with uncertainty over how to make a living and what comes next.
One of those drivers is Farhan Badel, who has been driving for Uber and Lyft in Minneapolis since 2018.
His work for Uber and Lyft helps him support his three children and wife and has allowed him the freedom to be able to choose his hours to better juggle life and work.
If Uber and Lyft leave Minneapolis within weeks, Badel and other drivers may explore roads less traveled — driving for startup rideshare apps.
At his home office in Woodbury, Murid Amini has been working around the clock since early March developing MOOV, a rideshare app which he says has around 900 users signed up so far — around 600 are drivers.
Other rideshare companies are also looking for ways to fill the possible void, including HICH and The Drivers Cooperative, a driver-owned organization in New York, interested in signing up Minnesota drivers.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
We chat with LegalRideshare's co-founder & lead attorney Bryant Greening about accidents and deactivations caused by accidents.
Drivers protest, companies step up and the facts about minimum wage. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LOUISVILLE DRIVERS GO ON STRIKEDrivers step up in Kentucky. Spectrum News reported:
Around 60 drivers went on strike starting at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. They said they chose the location because they don't make enough on rides from the airport to downtown hotels.
Solomon Tamene has been driving for Uber and Lyft for six-and-a-half years, but he went on strike for the first time Monday.
Lyft recently announced drivers will earn 70% or more of rider payments each week. If they don't, they will be paid the difference.
“They say drivers make 70%,” Tamene said. “I'll show you; I have my evidence. Drivers say they make 70%, but we never make 70%.”
UBER LEAVES. COMPANIES STEP UP.With Uber planning to leave, other rideshare companies are stepping up. KARE 11 reported:
Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft said they will leave Minneapolis on May 1 if a new ordinance, passed by the city council, takes effect.
But several companies said they are ready to come in if Uber and Lyft make good on their promise.Steve Wright, founder and CEO of Wridz, said their rideshare company can now be found in 20 cities across the country. But they started in Austin, Texas after Uber and Lyft left the city in 2016 under different circumstances. A new Texas law then eventually superseded the Austin ordinance, leading to Uber and Lyft returning a year later.
Joshua Sear, founder and CEO of Empower, said their main market is in the Washington, D.C., metro area. But they also provide service to drivers in Winston-Salem/Greensboro, North Carolina and are beta testing the service in New York City.
To date, no new company has submitted an application for a TNC license. Once the city of Minneapolis receives a license application from a TNC, it takes approximately two to six weeks for approval. Hill said any new companies will need to follow the city's permit and licensing process.
15 FACTS ABOUT MINIMUM WAGEWith a win in Minnesota for the drivers, reporters break down the facts. Minnesota Reformer adds:
- Minnesota has more than 10,000 app-based drivers
- Uber and Lyft drivers earned an average of $30.27 per hour
- The state report was written by two labor-friendly economists
- The Minneapolis City Council approved the ordinance before they saw the state report
- Higher prices could impact drivers' overall income
- Other companies will struggle to scale up if Uber and Lyft leave
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
NEW GIG WORKER RULESNew rules have just taken place. The Dispatch reported:
A new Biden administration rule that changes the criteria for determining who is considered an independent contractor under the Federal Labor Standards Act went into effect Monday, potentially redefining “gig work” as we know it. Advocates of the new rule say it will expand the benefits of full employment — federal minimum wage, unemployment insurance, overtime, and Social Security benefits — to millions of independent contractors, particularly those who are “misclassified” as such. Opponents, however, worry the change will have a chilling effect on hiring contractors, undermining the independent contracting model and forcing genuine contract workers out of the market.
Though estimates for how many people engage in contract-based and independent work can vary widely, workforce surveys suggest that at least 25 percent of U.S. workers engage in some form of gig work — as independent contractors, freelancers, or through other non-standard work arrangements — and that roughly 10 percent of the workforce rely exclusively on gig work as their primary source of income
AMAZON'S ZENBOOTHS ARE A “SLAP IN THE FACE”Stressed working for Amazon? Just think happy thoughts. NY Post adds:
Amazon has sought to improve the morale of its stressed-out warehouse workers and reduce injuries by setting up so-called “ZenBooths” — interactive kiosks that are billed as “mindful practice rooms,” according to reports.
A warehouse employee at the Seattle-based e-tailing giant founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos leaked a screenshot of a meditation and wellness guide from the company that encourages workers to “close your eyes and think about something that makes you happy.”
The screenshot — which also shows a timer at the top right corner of the screen, saying “Repeat until timer ends” and showing 10 seconds left — was leaked by a worker at one of the company's fulfillment centers, where pay was recently increased to between $17 and $28 an hour.
But the company deleted a promotional video announcing the rollout of the booths after it elicited scathing reaction on social media, where critics noted that Amazon has been accused of subjecting employees to poor workplace conditions and heavy workloads.
MINNESOTA DRIVERS CLAIM VICTORY. UBER LEAVES.After a historic win for drivers, Uber announced it's leaving the city. Star Tribune reported:
Rideshare giants Uber and Lyft said they will leave Minneapolis on May 1 after the City Council voted Thursday to enact a pay raise for drivers.
The council voted 10 to 3 to override Mayor Jacob Frey's veto of the ordinance, which sets drivers' minimum pay for rides in the city starting May 1.
Uber and Lyft are Minneapolis' only licensed rideshare companies, although several entities — both local startups and existing companies — have said they would be eager to fill the void. None have formally applied for a license, and it's unclear if any could scale up operations in a matter of weeks.
On Thursday, Uber competitor Empower announced it could do so — and would — before May 1. That could open a new legal fight; Empower's business model is different, and CEO Joshua Sear told the Star Tribune he doesn't believe the company needs any special licensing. However, in December, Washington, D.C., accused Empower of operating illegally there, according to local media reports. The irony: A decade ago, Uber burst into many markets, including the Twin Cities, illegally before cities created a licensing regimen.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The revolution that wasn't, more threats from Uber and teens get a lift. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
THE SELF-DRIVING REVOULTION THAT WASN'TSelf-driving was basically “promised” in 2016. So what happened? The Week reported:
There are a whole host of reasons that the dream of a self-driving revolution hasn't yet come to pass: cost, the slow evolution of the required technology, and a lack of public trust to name but a few. Perhaps the biggest, however, is safety. Humans are generally good at dealing with the unexpected; but machines must be “taught” to behave in certain ways in certain situations. How should a car with no driver respond if it sees, say, a rock in the road that may or may not be a paper bag?
The industry says that self-driving cars are up to seven times less likely to get into crashes leading to injury than normal cars. After all, AI isn't susceptible to a temptation to drink and drive, and won't get tired. But a series of high-profile accidents have dented confidence in such claims.
UBER/LYFT THREATEN TO LEAVE MINNEAPOLISHere we go again. Star Tribune reported:
The Minneapolis City Council has resurrected plans to raise wages and expand the rights of Uber and Lyft drivers — and the companies have resurrected their threats to leave town if those plans move forward.
The battle, strikingly similar to one that played out last year, sprang anew before a Minneapolis City Council committee Tuesday. The subject of a public hearing was a proposed ordinance that would pay drivers a minimum of $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute while transporting riders on any trip within the city limits, among other guarantees.
Since the battle played out last year, both Uber and Lyft have instituted a $5 minimum payment to drivers for all rides and have committed to other standards. They've also upped their local lobbying and PR campaigns. Uber, for example, hired a local PR firm and the firm circulated a letter this week signed by nearly 150 local drivers supporting not the Minneapolis proposal, but a New York settlement that set minimum pay and other protections, such as paid sick leave.
UBER TEEN ACCOUNTS IN CAUber has rolled out teen accounts in California with added safety. NBC Bay Area reported:
When a teen requests an Uber, the parent or guardian will get a notification and will be able to track the car in real-time.
Only the highest-rated, most experienced drivers are allowed to accept teen requests, and Uber does annual background checks on all drivers.Teens will get a PIN that they'll have to provide to the driver in order to make sure they're getting into the right car. And there will be an audio recording of all rides, encrypted for their privacy but available in case the teen or parent needs to file a report of any kind.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The LegalRideshare team talks with Lenny Sanchez of Independent Drivers Guild about unfair deactivations, accidents, insurance and more.
The war for wages, self-driving goes in circles, and Uber ends in the black. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
THE FIGHT FOR MINIMUM WAGECorporations go head-to-head with workers trying to make a living. The Stranger adds:
Billion-dollar corporations such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and InstaCart started ramping up their cry-bully tactics against gig workers after the City of Seattle instituted new “Pay Up”-branded protections on January 13 of this year. Workers don't want you or the brand new, business-backed City Council to fall for it.
“They'll cry, they'll throw themselves on the ground, kicking and screaming like a toddler. Anything to make reasonable labor policy fail,” said driver and Pay Up advocate Carmen Figueroa.
In 2022, former Council Members Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis passed a minimum wage ordinance, something workers in other sectors have enjoyed for more than 85 years. Through messages to their customers and statements in the press, app-based delivery companies have set up a narrative that a minimum wage has actually hurt the workers this legislation aimed to help.
WHAT SELF-DRIVING CAR?The AV future has turned into a pipe dream. The Verge adds:
One of the hallmarks of the race to develop autonomous vehicles has been wildly optimistic predictions about when they'll be ready for daily use. The landscape is positively littered with missed deadlines.
The amount of money flowing into the autonomous vehicle space also had the knock-on effect of convincing regulators to take a lax approach when it comes to self-driving cars. AV boosters warned that too many rules would “stifle innovation” and jeopardize future gains, whether that was safety or job creation.
When training an AI program on driving, you can predict a lot of what to expect, but you can't predict everything. And when those edge cases eventually emerge, the car can make mistakes — sometimes with tragic consequences.
UBER MAKES A PROFITUber finally makes a profit. But at what cost? Disconnect adds:
Between 2014 and 2023, the company set over $31 billion on fire in its quest to drive taxi companies out of business and build a global monopoly. It failed on both fronts, but in the meantime it built an organization that can wield significant power over transportation — and that's exactly how it got to last week's milestone.
The profit it's reporting is purely due to exploitative business practices where the worker and consumer are squeezed to serve investors — and technology is the tool to do it. This is the moment CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been working toward for years, and the plan he's trying to implement to cement the company's position should have us all concerned about the future of how we get around and how we work.
As transport analyst Hubert Horan outlined, for-hire rides are not a service that can take advantage of economies of scale like a software or logistics company, meaning just because you deliver more rides doesn't mean the per-ride cost gets significantly cheaper. Uber actually created a less cost-efficient model because it forces drivers to use their own vehicles and buy their own insurance instead of having a fleet of similar vehicles covered by fleet insurance.
For years, workers have been protesting and organizing to try to claw back the power they lost when Uber sold labor exploitation as innovation to credulous governments that rolled out the red carpet for the supposed innovator. The most high-profile of these campaigns was in California, where workers were successful in pushing the state government to pass Assembly Bill 5 that effectively made them employees, only for the platform companies to rally behind a ballot measure that became known as Proposition 22. The companies deceptively presented it as a progressive policy to help workers in the gig economy when it actually nullified their victory and cemented their status as independent contractors.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Lyft promises pay, Minneapolis considers minimum wage and Waymo hits a bicyclist. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Lyft drivers receive 70% of paymentsLyft has a new promise for drivers. CBS News reported:
The rideshare company is pledging to pay its lower-earning drivers the difference between their take-home pay (after insurance and taxes) and 70% of their clients' fares each week, Lyft said Tuesday in a statement.
On Tuesday, Lyft said its drivers on average earn about 88% of rider payments, after taxes and other fees. But it noted that about 15 in 100 drivers earned less than 70% of their riders' payments, after fees, on a weekly basis last year.
Under Lyft's new benefit package, riders will be able to access a breakdown of how they are paid out for their completed rides, in addition to being able to earn extra money for accepting scheduled pick-ups. The company will also offer an extra $100 for drivers who complete 50 rides with an electric vehicle within a week between February 12 and July 1.
Minimum wage for driversMinneapolis is considering a minimum wage for drivers. Axios reported:
If Minneapolis leaders enact a proposal being pushed by rideshare activists, Uber and Lyft drivers would be guaranteed to make the equivalent of the minimum wage ($15.57/hour). That's according to a new report from the city auditor.
Mayor Jacob Frey and members of the city council majority coalition are exploring three different models for minimum pay.
In a presentation to the council on Tuesday, the auditor confirmed that all three options would guarantee drivers earn something like the city's minimum wage.
The model drivers prefer — which would pay them $1.40 per mile and 52 cents per minute — would likely deliver the highest pay, audit staffer Andrew Hawkins told the council.
Driverless car hits bicyclistA Waymo vehicle hit a bicyclist in San Francisco. The Verge reported:
A driverless Waymo vehicle struck a cyclist in San Francisco, causing minor injuries. It was the latest incident in the city at a time when tensions around autonomous vehicles are particularly high after a driverless Cruise vehicle injured a pedestrian.
The incident, which was first reported by Reuters, occurred at 3:02PM on February 6th at the intersection of 17th and Mississippi streets in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. A Google Maps Street View of the intersection shows a flat, well-lit area surrounded by warehouses with unprotected bike lanes on both streets.
Police officers arriving at the scene found an autonomous vehicle had struck a cyclist, who only reported “non-life threatening injuries,” according to Eve Laokwansathitaya, public information officer with SFPD.
Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina had more details to share. The Waymo vehicle was stopped at a four-way stop, as an oncoming large truck began to turn into the intersection. The vehicle waited until it was its turn and then also began to proceed through the intersection, failing to notice the cyclist who was traveling behind the truck.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Workers fight for the bare minimum, drivers get a settlement, and the truth behind tipping. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
GIG WORKERS & MINIMUM WAGEA new study shows that most gig workers don't even make minimum wage. Nerd Wallet reported:
Nearly a third of gig workers (29%) reported earning less than the minimum wage in their state, according to a June 2022 report by the Economic Policy Institute.
In New York City, where the minimum wage is $15 per hour, app-based delivery drivers earn an average of $11.12 per hour after deducting expenses, according to a November 2022 study by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
In Chicago, Uber and Lyft drivers earned $12.72 per hour after expenses in 2021, according to a study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2023, the city's minimum wage is $15.80 per hour for employers with 21 or more workers.
New York City enacted the first minimum wage for rideshare drivers. The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission established a per-trip payment formula to ensure drivers earn an hourly rate that equates to the city's $15-per-hour minimum wage. Based on a typical ride, drivers could expect to earn $17.22 per hour after expenses.
DRIVERS WIN $328M SETTLEMENTAfter claiming wage theft, some drivers receive a payout. Essence adds:
… that's what the New York Attorney General's office formally accused Uber and Lyft of last year based on many wage theft complaints from drivers with the companies. Their outcries ultimately led to a historic $328M class action lawsuit settlement win that will pay the drivers what they're reportedly owed.
The attorney general's office had taken action against Uber and Lyft, accusing the companies of charging sales taxes and black car fund fee to avoid paying drivers their fair wages they'd earned, per a report from NY 1 Spectrum News.
The outlet also pointed out that passengers recognize that Uber's policies have more built-in provision for customers and not nearly enough for drivers.
THE TRUTH BEHIND TIPPINGTipping doesn't mean better pay for drivers. View From The Wing explains:
When Travis Kalanick left Uber, and Expedia's CEO took over, one of the first moves was to introduce tipping of drivers. Kalanick had opposed tipping because he wanted the experience to be seamless — no extra clicks or decisions, just get out of the car.
People generally applauded the change as being good for drivers, because they do not understand how tipping works. It doesn't mean higher pay.
That's exactly what's happened at Uber. They introduced tipping, and Uber pays their drivers less. They can get enough drivers on the road precisely because drivers expect that while Uber doesn't pay as much, the customer might make it up with a tip.
What's happening, though, is that Uber is paying drivers less and people are tipping less than drivers have expected. That's reduced driver pay, which encourages better drivers with other opportunities to leave the platform. They're replaced by different drivers, and often less expensive, older, and less well-maintained vehicles. It's one reason that the overall Uber experience has gotten so much worse.
However what's really interesting is data that sheds light on driver pay and tipping behavior. They found that Uber drivers made 17.1% less in 2023 than the year before.
51% of food and grocery driver income comes from tips. This figure is just 10% for rideshare drivers, in part because expected tipping isn't happening — only 28.3% of rides earn tips (compared to 88.5% of grocery deliveries and 74.5% of food orders).
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
A driver protects himself, Uber kills Drizly and DoorDash hikes fees. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVER DEFENDS HIMSELF. GETS DEACTIVATED.A driver fended off his passenger to save his life. Uber's response? Deactivation. KSDK reported:
Keith, 37, said he picked up three men at North Kingshighway Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
Keith said the man pointed a gun right at his face and told him to get out of the car.
“As I started to exit, I reached down and grabbed my gun and he said ‘What are you reaching for? What are you reaching for?' I hear ‘pop pop' and I started firing back.”
Bullets hit the car seats, doors and shattered two windows on his wife's Toyota Corolla.
A bullet grazed Keith on his chin.
“Uber did call to make sure that I was OK. Their insurance rep also totaled my wife's car. I really liked working there. I know they have a policy that prohibits drivers from carrying guns, but I was protecting myself and I don't think I should have lost my job,” he said.
UBER KILLS DRIZLYDrizly stops flowing. Axios reported:
The big picture: Drizly was always a bit of an odd match for Uber, in that it didn't hire or contract its own delivery workers. Instead, Drizly provided backend tech that let local liquor stores provide their own deliveries.
The bigger issue, however, might have been cybersecurity. Drizly in 2020 confirmed a hack that exposed information on around 2.5 million customers.
What it didn't say, however, was that the company had been aware of the security flaw for two years without fixing it.
DOORDASH HIKES FEESA win for drivers turns into more fees for customers. New York Post adds:
DoorDash is raising delivery fees for Big Apple customers and restaurants alike in response to recent minimum wage hikes — driving already-stratospheric prices even higher, The Post has learned.
A month after city legislation forced food-delivery apps to pay higher hourly wages — at least $17.96 an hour — DoorDash told restaurants that they will be paying a higher commission rate effective Wednesday, according to a memo obtained by The Post.
The memo also warns because of the “extreme minimum pay rate” customer fees will go up “to help offset the increased costs.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Driverless cars are immune, Uber shrugs the rules, and how $110,000 became $14,000. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERLESS CARS IMMUNE FROM TICKETSDriverless cars can break the rules. NBC News reported:
Driverless cars have been documented running red lights, blocking emergency responders and swerving into construction zones.
But NBC Bay Area has learned that when driverless cars break the rules of the road, there's not much law enforcement can do. In California, traffic tickets can be written only if there is an actual driver in the car.
While autonomous vehicles in California have received parking citations, the state's transportation laws appear to leave driverless vehicles immune from receiving any type of traffic ticket stemming from moving violations.
HOW GIG COMPANIES ARE RESPONDING TO RULE CHANGESRule changes? What rule changes? Fast Company adds:
The Department of Labor on Tuesday enacted a new rule aimed at preventing the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The effort, first proposed in October 2022, provides a guide to whether a worker is an employee or an independent operator under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a difference that could afford someone key legal protections and compensation.
The rule is set to take effect March 11.
DoorDash said in a statement that it did not believe the ruling would have a big impact on the company.
Instacart emphasized that the ruling itself doesn't reclassify workers, but rather provides a framework for future consideration.
Lyft also made it clear that there is no immediate impact on the company as of Tuesday.
In its own statement, Uber also stressed workers' interest in flexibility and the fact that the rule does not have any current impacts on the company. “This rule does not materially change the law under which we operate, and won't impact the classification of the over 1 million Americans who turn to Uber to make money flexibly,”
FROM $110,000 TO $14,000How does one go from making $110,000 to $14,000? By driving for Uber. Business Insider reported:
Michael, a ride-hailing driver in his late 30s, made more than $110,000 in gross earnings driving for Uber and Lyft in 2022. But after commissions paid to the ride-hailing companies, taxes, and other expenses, he ended up with net earnings of just $14,000.
Michael, who's based in New Jersey and asked to use only his first name for fear of professional repercussions, shared tax documents and screenshots of recent rides that disclose just how little he took home in 2022. Expenses included buying a new engine, having numerous car repairs, and driving amid elevated gas prices. He said he'd noticed ride-hailing driving had become increasingly less profitable after more than 17,000 rides across six years.
As a driver with a spinal injury who takes care of two young kids, he said he'd struggled to make ends meet for himself and his family. He's soon set to enroll in a bachelor's degree program funded entirely by Uber, but in the meantime, driving is one of his only options to pull in cash.
“At the end of the year, we incur every single cost from wear and tear to mechanical, cellphones, oil changes, gas, which is our biggest expense, and we're now getting less pay,” Michael said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
The gig is up, fees on funds, and carjackings continue. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DELIVERY'S GOLDEN AGE IS OVERHas delivery's golden age gone rusty? Some workers think so. Business Insider reported:
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Juan started delivering groceries through Instacart and takeout orders via Uber Eats in Southern California. The money was good enough that he didn't need any other job.
Three years later, Juan is still a full-time gig delivery worker. But he's running out of options to stay that way.
Most of those conversations included a common theme: Working as a delivery driver got a lot harder over the past year. Lots of workers tell me that they got into delivering early in the pandemic when lots of people were willing to pay extra to have groceries, takeout, and other things brought to their door.
But now, things are harder. Just finding orders to deliver can be a challenge. Some services, like Instacart, have also cut base pay for delivering orders. Less than 10% of gig workers make over $2,000 a month, according to research from PayQuicker, a payments company with clients in the gig-work space.
NY WORKERS' COMP FUND CAN CHARGE FEES ON TIPSA court ruled in favor of keeping fees on non-cash tips. Reuters explains
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said a fund created by the state of New York to compensate black car drivers who are injured on the job did not break the law by imposing a fee on noncash tips given to drivers, nixing an $8.5 million award for a class that could include hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Ira Goldstein, the fund's executive director, in a statement said the 2nd Circuit ruling makes clear that the fund acted in accordance with state law.
“The Black Car Fund's nation-leading model provides workers' compensation and other benefits at no cost to drivers, which gig workers in other states don't have, by charging passengers a small amount on each trip,” he said.
CHICAGO RIDESHARE DRIVER SHOT DURING CARJACKINGAs carjackings continue in Chicago, advocates demand change. CBS 2 reported:
A rideshare driver was in critical condition Thursday after he was shot last night during an attempted carjacking in the Austin community.
As of late Thursday afternoon, the 51-year-old Uber driver was in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital after being shot several times in the chest. Rideshare drivers said it was just the latest incident in a recent wave of violence against drivers.
Bryant Greening's law firm, LegalRideshare, specializes in rideshare cases and agrees that companies have not done enough to strengthen identity requirements for passengers.
“We're dealing with some of the most innovative companies in the world,” Greening said.
He also thinks rideshare drivers should be offered basic safety training — before they hit the road.
“Perhaps self-defense classes, perhaps what to look out for in a situation; how to react if a passenger or community member is giving you problems,” Greening said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Women make less, tips get buried and Amazon uses a blob. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
WOMEN MAKE LESSA new study reveals that women make less than men in the gig economy. Business Insider reported:
About 23% of Lyft drivers and 20% of Uber drivers are women, according to the most recent company data provided to Business Insider. In 2021, the number of women Uber drivers nearly doubled and surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
A 2020 study by Stanford researchers found that women who worked as ride-hailing drivers earned roughly 7% less per hour, on average, than male drivers. Among the researchers' explanations for this disparity: Men had more experience using driving platforms, they tended to drive faster (enabling them to complete more trips), and they were more likely to drive in areas with greater safety risks.
UBER MAKES TIPPING HARDERUber has decided to bury tipping options in NYC. Bloomberg reported:
The obligatory base rate for delivery workers of at least $17.96 an hour, which went into effect Dec. 4, has resulted in higher overall earnings in the first week, according to receipts from drivers sent to Bloomberg and posted on social media sites. But to compensate for the added costs, Uber Technologies Inc., DoorDash Inc. and Grubhub, owned by Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, have made changes to their apps that workers say will reduce their hours and could limit earnings potential in the long run.
One of the most controversial changes concerns tipping. As a result of the new law, Uber and DoorDash said they'll have to pass increased costs on to consumers in the form of added fees. So as not to overwhelm customers, both companies moved the prompt for tipping on the app to appear after customers have already placed their orders, which could mean fewer tips for drivers. DoorDash said the move is necessary “to ensure our platform remains affordable for all New Yorkers.”
BROKE? TALK TO THE BLOB.Amazon workers facing financial hardships were given some advice: talk to our blob. Business Insider reported:
An Amazon warehouse told workers they could write to the company's orange blob of a mascot if they're facing financial hardship around the holidays, according to a new report, and at least one employee at the warehouse is criticizing the initiative as tone deaf.
“Are you or someone you know facing financial hardship this holiday season?” the flyer read, according to The Guardian. “Peccy wants to help! Write a letter to Peccy. If the Peccy team selects you, some of your holiday wishes could come true!”
Keith Williams, a worker at the Amazon SWF1 warehouse who spoke to The Guardian, criticized the initiative. To him, Amazon could be spending more money on “giving us the safety and security of a living wage” and less on company initiatives like Peccy.
Along with the pay and hours, an April study from Strategic Organizing Center found that in 2022 the rate of worker injuries at Amazon was 70% higher than those at similar warehouses, and the rate of serious injuries was double that of other warehouses.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
A new EU deal for gig workers, the struggles of one Lyft driver and Amazon robots come cheap. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
GIG WORKERS AS EMPLOYEESThe EU tells delivery apps gig workers are now employees. Fortune reported:
European Union negotiators backed a deal to reclassify millions of people working for ride-hailing and food-delivery apps as employees in a set of rules that could cost the industry billions of euros each year.
The provisional deal will require platforms to give full status to the estimated 5.5 million workers who meet at least two out of five conditions that indicate their relationship with the apps fits that of an employee rather than someone who's self employed, the EU said in a statement on Wednesday.
The deal will also require platforms to tell workers when they're being monitored or managed by algorithms, which can result in a lack of transparency for workers about how decisions are made and how their personal data is used, the statement said. Platforms won't be allowed to process certain kinds of personal data including private conversations and information that can be used to infer race, political opinions, migration or health status.
DRIVING WITH A DISABILITYOne disabled Lyft driver is now struggling to make ends meet. Business Insider reported:
Elizabeth, who's in her mid-30s and works in the Southeast, said she first started gig work after suffering an injury that limited her work options. She told Business Insider she valued the flexibility of driving for Lyft and Uber, given she could take the day off if she was in pain.
She still loves how she can take days off when she's not feeling up to driving. Though now, some weeks — which can vary between 15 to 40 hours given the limitations of her disability — she barely makes $200 a week over what she spends on her vehicle's maintenance and gas. She said she struggled to make her $400 car payment last month.
Forty-five percent of Gen Z and 44% of millennials are making $2,500 or more a month in gig work after considering expenses, compared to 36% of Gen X and 30% of boomers, a TransUnion study of nearly 1,000 adults found.
AMAZON ROBOT WORKERS WILL COST $3/HRA new Amazon warehouse robot comes at a very low cost. Business Insider reported:
Amazon recently began testing a new robot in its warehouse operations — meet Digit, a humanoid bipedal robot with a turquoise torso and smiley eyes.
Digit costs about $10 to $12 an hour to operate right now, based on its price and lifespan, but the company predicts that cost to drop to $2 to $3 an hour plus overhead software costs as production ramps up, Agility Robotics CEO Damion Shelton told Bloomberg.
Of course, Digit's human-like appearance probably also isn't going to quell the fears of any workers worried they'll eventually be replaced, but Amazon is saying Digit is designed to “work collaboratively” with employees, not replace them.
Amazon has been building up its robot fleet for years. It had 45,000 robots across 20 fulfillment centers back in 2017, Insider previously reported, and now says it has “750,000 robots working collaboratively with our employees.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
LegalRideshare's Bryant Greening is launching a new service called Amazon Accident, focused on helping Amazon Flex, DSP, and warehouse workers after accidents and injuries.
A tragedy at Amazon, drivers have options and a shopper almost loses her life. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
AMAZON WORKER KILLEDAfter a worker was killed at an Amazon facility, Amazon was fined….$7000. The Washington Post reported:
After an 11-week investigation, Indiana safety officials found that Amazon failed to ensure a workplace “free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death” and issued a serious safety citation.
The penalty? A $7,000 fine, the maximum in Indiana.
Amazon, America's second-largest private employer, is under unprecedented scrutiny for a high rate of injuries at its warehouses as multiple government agencies raise alarms about ergonomic safety. But cases like Gruesbeck's reveal the limited ability of state and federal safety regulators to effectively levy penalties or enforce safety policies on powerful corporations like Amazon, which made $9.9 billion in profits in the last quarter.
DRIVERS HAVE OPTIONSDrivers in Minneapolis have a message for Uber: “If you leave, we got options.” Sahan Journal reported:
In a press conference Tuesday, Eid Ali, president of the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), said his group has been talking to two other “transportation network companies,” or rideshare companies, about entering the Twin Cities market in the event that Uber and Lyft leave.
“Over 1,000 drivers who are ready,” Eid said. “The same day that they [Uber and Lyft] pull out, we have people who will cover that so we don't have any problem.”
Eid also said the other companies, which he declined to name, would be willing to make drivers stakeholders in the business.
Uber and Lyft threatened on August 15 to pull or limit their services in Minneapolis if the City Council approved a then-pending ordinance to increase pay and workplace protections for their drivers.
INSTACART WORKER STABBEDAn Instacart workers gets stabbed while on the job and is denied assistance. Business Insider reported:
She walks up to me, stating, “What was that shit you were talking inside?” And then she lunged forward and stabbed me in the chest. I stepped back, and she hit my right lower pec close to my liver and collapsed my lung.
I tried to see if I could file a claim for assistance with Instacart. I get that we don't have full insurance coverage like a full-time job. But I thought that they could provide some help for me since I was injured while shopping an order.
When I filed my claim the first time, they said my claim was denied for assistance. I didn't understand why being stabbed doesn't qualify for assistance.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
We talk with Abdul from DisplayRide about the latest news and topics affecting gig workers.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
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An Uber driver shares his story, DoorDash pushes tips, and Amazon destroys evidence. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 10/30/23One driver shares how he made $80,000 last year. Business Insider reported:
Last year, Rich said he made over $80,000 driving for Uber, according to a tax document viewed by Insider. But he said it took a lot of hours to earn this income.
Rich considers himself retired, but he said whenever he's not traveling, he usually drives between about 40 and 55 hours a week for Uber. He's completed over 17,000 trips since he began driving, and over just the past year, he said he's put about 77,000 miles on his vehicle — which he uses strictly for Uber.
Including tips, Rich estimated that he makes about $22 an hour before gas, maintenance, and other vehicle expenses are accounted for. He said making money from driving is more difficult than ever.
“There were a number of times when I'd make over $2,000 a week — as high as $2,700 one week — however, those days are long gone,” Rich said. “I can't remember the last time I made $2,000 in a week.”
TUESDAY 10/31/23What happened when Uber came to down? One article breaks down the arrival of Uber in D.C. in 2011. Dissent Magazine explains:
Public debate arose immediately. While few denied that Uber's operations in D.C. violated the law, the question remained: What should D.C. policymakers do about it? Three answers emerged: (1) change Uber to accommodate the law; (2) change the law to accommodate Uber; and (3) whatever is done, make sure the city does not appear to be anti-innovation.
That same day, a venture capitalist and early Uber investor tweeted something similar: “What happened today with @Uber & DC is dawn of a new local politics: Tech/social exercising newfound muscles on a policy level in real-time.” Bloomberg News editor and author Brad Stone agreed: “Uber had flexed its political muscles for the first time, and won. A new tactic was then added to the playbook: when traditional advocacy failed, Uber could mobilize its user base and direct their passion toward elected officials.”
WEDNESDAY 11/1/23DoorDash warns users who don't tip. People.com reported:
The food delivery service has been testing the efficacy of issuing a warning message for customers trying to leave a $0 tip for drivers, DoorDash confirmed to PEOPLE.
Orders with no tip could potentially sit for longer at the restaurant, so now a pop-up will appear on the food delivery app if a user puts $0 in the tip amount. But this new in-app message might not be on DoorDash apps forever.
“This reminder screen is something that we're currently testing to help create the best possible experience for all members of our community,” Rosenberg says in a statement. “As with anything we pilot, we look forward to closely analyzing the results and feedback.”
THURSDAY 11/2/23Instacart's carts get smart. PYMNTS adds:
Caper Carts use computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify products as they're put into the cart. Customers can bag items as they shop and pay from anyplace in the store, the release said, while also using loyalty accounts to get savings and promotions.
“At launch, they'll reduce lines and congestion while freeing up store associates to focus more on customer support. The carts' screens help customers easily find items on their list, stay on budget, and access tailored recommendations and deals as they browse the aisles.”
FRIDAY 11/3/23Amazon exec's are accused of destroying evidence. Seattle Times reported:
Amazon executives allegedly destroyed two years of communications that the Federal Trade Commission requested as part of its antitrust investigation into the company, according to legal documents made public Thursday.
Amazon executives knowingly deployed practices that would avoid a “perfectly competitive market” or changed tactics when it realized Amazon could lose its competitive advantage, the FTC alleged in newly unsealed sections of its lawsuit against Amazon. Amazon also switched course on a controversial algorithm that the FTC alleges raises prices for consumers during periods of “heightened outside scrutiny.”
From 2015 to 2019, Amazon ran a secret algorithm, internally called Project Nessie, to induce other online stores to lower their prices because they felt compelled to keep track with Amazon's prices, the FTC alleged.
“Aware of the public fallout it risks,” Amazon will turn the algorithm off during times of intense scrutiny — and flip it back on “when it thinks that no one is watching,” the FTC alleged.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Japan lifts its ban, how much drivers actually make and Uber goes self-driving. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 10/23/23Japan may lift its ban on ride sharing. Bloomberg reported:
Facing a shortage of drivers and shrinking options for transportation, the Japanese government is moving toward lifting its ban on ride sharing, a move that could open the door for Uber Technologies Inc. and its rivals to expand services.
The number of drivers in the taxi industry has declined about 20% since 2019, according to Japan Federation of Hire-Taxi Associations. Looser regulations on ride sharing could make travel more convenient for inbound travelers and depopulated areas that lack public transportation.
The federation has criticized ride-sharing as an attempt to “position drivers as independent sole proprietors and evade labor regulations.” In order to ensure safe and secure transportation services, the organization said it will “do its utmost to prevent the lifting of the ban on ride sharing” with local groups, it said.
TUESDAY 10/24/23Amazon paid $350,000 for fake meals. Forbes reported:
Every other month, Amazon runs an induction event for new executives called Escape Velocity. There are speakers — sometimes including the top brass like founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy — as well as training, happy hours and food. It's a costly event to run, as evidenced in expenses for catering and drinks filed by one event organizer between March 2021 and May 2022, totalling over $350,000.
There was something odd about the organizer's expenses, however: they were filed during a period in which Escape Velocity events had gone virtual due to Covid-19 and there was neither food nor drink required. According to the Department of Justice, she was really furnishing a lavish lifestyle with “fictitious” expenses, filed with Seattle catering company Gourmondo (totaling $243,000), UberEats vouchers ($51,000) and fake happy hours at local restaurant 2120 ($55,000). (She has not yet been charged, so Forbes is not publishing her real name.)
After the FBI was told by the three companies that they had no record of the Amazon employee's spending, investigators looked into her various outgoings financed, in part, by the expenses, which reached $410,000, according to search warrants reviewed by Forbes. They included a $55,000 Land Rover and three Chanel bags worth a combined $18,500. Those items have now been seized by the FBI.
WEDNESDAY 10/25/23How much do drivers really make? Business Insider reported:
Over the last few years, studies have come to a wide range of conclusions about drivers' hourly pay, from as low as between about $9 and $12 an hour to as high as between about $23 and $28 an hour.
These findings run contrary to the pay figures that ride-hailing companies have provided. In the past year, Uber and Lyft have said their typical driver earns about $35 and $36 an hour, respectively.
Meanwhile, Insider has spoken with several drivers whose pay has ranged from about $22 to $40 an hour, per their calculations.
Five drivers previously told Insider that their driving expenses — including gas and maintenance — amounted to between about $4 and $8 an hour. Uber and Lyft's $35 and $36 hourly figures didn't account for expenses.
THURSDAY 10/26/23Uber will offer self-driving cars in Phoenix. CNBC reported:
Uber partnered with the autonomous car company Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, in May. Phoenix is the first city where Uber has publicly rolled out access to Waymo's cars, in part because it is “the largest fully autonomous service area in the world,” according to a release.
The autonomous Uber rides will be serviced by Waymo vehicles, and rides will be the same price as the traditional car rides Uber offers, an Uber spokesperson told CNBC. The spokesperson added that both Uber and Waymo have received support from local regulators.
FRIDAY 10/27/23Uber's CEO is very confident about its future. Just Auto reported:
“We are seeing weekday commutes as [a] particular strength,” Khosrowshahi said. “As more companies like us are telling their teams, ‘Hey let's get back to the office.'”
Khosrowshahi also noted that Uber has found the formula for increasing (spending) activity on the platform, which focuses on getting users to use different services. He gave the example of someone who books an UberX, being able to be moved to the delivery/grocery segment.
Uber's Q2 2023 delivery gross bookings were up 14%, an increase from 12% growth posted in Q1 2023.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Harry Campbell, "The Rideshare Guy" talks with attorney Bryant Greening on how we help drivers after accidents and the ways drivers can protect themselves before anything happens.
Topics include: How to handle accidents, why rideshare insurance is important and how LegalRideshare has paved the way as the go-to resource for all rideshare related accidents and injuries.
We had a chance to sit down with Luiz from DELIVERYTV to discuss recent news and events affecting delivery and all gig workers. ----------------------------------- ACCIDENT? INJURY? LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free. https://LegalRideshare.com
Traffic gets worse, StopClub helps drivers, and Uber fights the EU. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 9/18/23Uber made traffic bad. Robotaxis will make it worse. San Francisco Chronicle adds:
The real threat from robotaxis is the underlying technology. Once these cars inevitably learn to get around the traffic cones and gain the public's trust, their convenience could seduce us into vastly overusing our cars.
The result? An artificial-intelligence-powered nightmare of traffic, technically perfect but awful for our cities.
In the 2010s, the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where one of us serves as the director, was at the forefront of using Big Data to study how ride-hailing and ride-sharing could make our streets cleaner and more efficient. The findings appeared to be astonishing: With minimal delays to passengers, we could match riders and reduce the size of New York City taxi fleets by 40%. More people could get around in fewer cars for less money. We could reduce car ownership, and free up curbs and parking lots for new uses.
Our research was technically right, but we had not taken into account changes in human behavior.
This dynamic became clear in the data a few years later: On average, ride-hailing trips generated far more traffic and 69% more carbon dioxide than the trips they displaced.
TUESDAY 9/19/23Tulsa rideshare drivers go on strike. ABC8 reported:
They're striking because they say that they're being treated unfairly by the companies they are working for, Uber and Lyft.
Some drivers say they've noticed discrepancies between what customers pay and the share paid to drivers.
According to one driver, it's a trend that's getting worse.
WEDNESDAY 9/20/23The StopClub app is a dream for drivers and a nightmare for Uber. Rest of World adds:
StopClub reads the fare directly from the ride-sharing app and displays the calculation. It can even automatically reject fares below a certain price set by the driver. Since it added the fare calculator, StopClub has gone from around 87,000 active users in February to 250,000 across Brazil.
Before downloading StopClub, he'd spend 120 reais (around $25) on gas per day. Now, he spends between 85 ($17) and 100 reais ($21). With StopClub, “it's as if a blindfold has been removed from our eyes,” he said.
Uber Brazil took StopClub to court in July, claiming the app was illegally obtaining and storing confidential data related to passengers, drivers, and ride prices. It also alleged that StopClub was violating Uber's copyright and competition rights. In response, StopClub said it doesn't extract or store data. Instead, when Uber or 99 offer a ride to a driver, StopClub said it only reads the information shown on screen and executes a pre-programmed calculation. In late August, Uber lost its injunction to block the app.
THURSDAY 9/21/23Uber threatens to leave Brussels. FT reported:
A top Uber executive has warned that Brussels' proposals to designate gig workers as de facto employees will force its ride-hailing service to shut down in hundreds of cities across the bloc and raise prices by as much as 40 per cent if enacted.
“If Brussels forces Uber to reclassify drivers and couriers across the EU, we could expect to see a 50–70 per cent reduction in the number of work opportunities,” Díaz said. This would cause Uber to cease operating in “hundreds” of the 3,000 cities across the EU that it serves today, she added.
She said Uber is “sincerely committed to the European social model” but warned that similar rulings classifying drivers as employees in Spain and Geneva have led to “devastating” job losses.
FRIDAY 9/22/23Robotrucks hit the Uber network. Forbes reported:
Big rigs outfitted with Waabi's AI-enabled software and sensors began hauling loads between Dallas and Houston booked through Uber Freight this month, founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun told Forbes. The trucks have human backup drivers for now, but will eventually operate in full autonomous mode, she said. The Toronto-based company spent two years perfecting its system using virtual trucks driving in advanced simulation before testing them on public roads. Urtasun declined to say exactly how many trucks are part of the Uber Freight program or how much revenue the company will generate from it.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Tasks, Women, and PayUber's new service, Lyft's new feature, and Amazon's new deal. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 9/11/23Uber might be launching a new service. Engadget reported:
According to Bloomberg, the company is exploring the possibility of offering a new TaskRabbit-like service. Developer Steve Moser found code hidden within Uber's iPhone app for an offering that's reportedly codenamed “Chore.” Based on its current iteration, Chore will let you hire “taskers” and will let you specify in the app what you need help with, how long you think it would take and what time you want the tasker to arrive.
Of course, you'll be able to input the address of where you want the person to go before you submit your request. Uber will then compute a payment that's commensurate with the time required to finish the task, but you will have to pay for a minimum of one hour no matter what it is. Bloomberg says the code Moser unearthed didn't have hints on what types of help you can ask from providers, but the potential service's rival TaskRabbit has a wide range of categories to choose from. These include cleaning, furniture assembly, electrical help, plumbing, TV mounting, packing and moving, snow removal, computer assistance, pet sitting and even senior care.
TUESDAY 9/12/23Lyft adds a new feature to improve safety. The Verge reported:
On Tuesday, rideshare service Lyft launched Women Plus Connect, an in-app feature that “matches women and nonbinary drivers with more women and nonbinary riders.” The move is an effort to improve safety and encourage more women and nonbinary drivers to work with the company. A report by The Verge found that female rideshare drivers frequently face harassment and sexual assault and feel unsupported by rideshare companies.
The feature offers Lyft drivers an option to turn on a preference in the Lyft app to prioritize matches with other nearby women and nonbinary riders. It's not a guarantee, however, and if no riders that match that description are nearby, drivers will still be matched with men.
WEDNESDAY 9/13/23Amazon is boosting pay for delivery drivers. CNBC reported:
The company announced the pay bump at an annual, closed-door conference called Ignite Live with the 3,500 small businesses that make up its delivery service partner program. The DSP program, launched in 2018, comprises about 279,000 drivers, often distinguishable by blue Amazon-branded vans, who are responsible for delivering packages the last few miles to shoppers' doorsteps.
Amazon did not say how much it was raising wages, but the company now anticipates the average delivery associate will earn $20.50 per hour on average, or more, plus benefits. The DSPs regularly pay above the minimum set by Amazon, and it audits DSP wages “on a regular basis,” Tomay said. The amount differs depending on where the contractors are based, among other factors, she said.
THURSDAY 9/14/23One op-ed explains how the gig economy is on the losing end. CT News Junkie adds:
And if they've been in the gig economy for long, they know they are on the losing end of an economic system where people with resources benefit from the ease and convenience of, say, a quick ride to the train station, while the driver walks away with sometimes shockingly little compensation. They are not much protected by labor laws. Forget health insurance. They don't get that, either.
In public testimony, one Waterbury app-based driver said she's watched her pay drop from $600 a week for five days' driving during the worst of the pandemic, to $200 a week — if it's a busy week, and never mind tire repairs.
The gig economy is, according to some estimates, about to blow past $455 billion. Government regulation has not kept up, though the Federal Trade Commission has dipped a toe in, as with a $61.7 million fine they levied against Amazon in 2021 for not paying Amazon Flex drivers their share of customer tips. The FTC also announced last September that it would start prioritizing protecting gig workers.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
One driver's legal fight, Uber plays chicken and robotaxis are here. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 8/28/23One driver's legal fight could upend the gig economy. Fortune reported:
The court recently allowed a special lawsuit to be brought against Uber from drivers demanding coverage for work-related expenses. This decision highlights the back-and-forth struggle for the soul of the gig economy in California — and possibly throughout the United States.
Erik Adolph, the UberEats driver at the heart of this case, is not merely a plaintiff. He symbolizes the struggle of gig workers seeking fair compensation against a system that often feels stacked against them. For years, companies like Uber have used the label of “independent contractor,” sidestepping potentially cumbersome employment laws that mandate benefits such as minimum wage, health insurance, and expense reimbursements. The essence of Adolph's lawsuit is to permit a specific cause of action to challenge this model.
The lawsuit against Uber leverages the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), a unique California law that allows workers to sue for employment law violations on behalf of the state. This law doesn't just empower workers to fight for their rights, it actively encourages a more equitable employment landscape.
TUESDAY 8/29/23Uber and Lyft keep playing chicken with cities…and winning. Fast Company reported:
But as the bill gained momentum, Uber and Lyft issued a threat, the same one they've used for years against localities weighing new rules for the gig companies: they would pull out if it succeeded.
What happened in Minneapolis follows an increasingly familiar pattern, where lawmakers quash rideshare regulations after Uber and Lyft's warnings. This past May, Minnesota's Democratic governor Tim Walz issued a veto against a bill similar to Fair Drives Safe Rides when the gig companies threatened they would pull out. And the gig companies have made similar ultimatums in cities and states across the country, before watering down or stopping new regulations in their tracks.
But why don't localities stand their ground, and what would actually happen if Uber and Lyft pulled out?
Almost immediately, Austinites created alternatives. The city's taxi drivers union formed a worker coop and launched their own service, ATX Coop Taxi. Local entrepreneurs also launched RideAustin, a non-profit rideshare app. Andy Tryba, RideAustin's co-founder, says they started coding the app as soon as Uber and Lyft shut down — “basically staying up every night for four weeks. And then we grew like crazy.”
WEDNESDAY 8/30/23Uber starts dispatching taxis. AM NY reported:
The rideshare giant Uber is now dispatching yellow taxis to some of its New York City customers who use its app, cementing an unlikely partnership between once-fierce rivals.
Uber has allowed New York customers to request a medallion taxi through its app since 2022. But last week, the company started automatically dispatching taxis to any Big Apple customer requesting an UberX (the company's standard offering), provided a cab is closer than a car being driven for Uber, reps for the company exclusively revealed to amNewYork Metro.
The company also suspects it might potentially be a money-saver for riders in the long term. The Traffic Mobility Review Board is presently deliberating the rules, rates, and exemptions for New York's congestion pricing program, which will charge tolls on motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street starting next year — and both taxi and rideshare drivers are among the many groups seeking exemptions.
THURSDAY 8/31/23Like it or not, robotaxis are here. The economist reported:
How quickly they proliferate will depend a lot on technology. Waymo and Cruise use a combination of detailed maps, extensive sensors and ai to achieve full autonomy, but only in the geofenced areas where they are trained. That means they can only advance step by step. Tesla hopes to muscle into their territory with full-self-driving (fsd) technology that learns more the more its cars travel, using not maps but cameras and computer power to mimic a driver's eyes and brain.
Robots may make driving safer. But that may come at a cost to human interaction. Then there are jobs. Driverless technology could eventually extinguish the taxi-driver profession, destroying a valuable source of income and a font of local knowledge, not to mention a priceless resource for journalists.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Dara moonlights as a driver, a mayor vetoes a bill, and Uber raises the minimum age. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 8/21/23 A new study looks at delivery drivers' working conditions. Business World reported:
The conditions of gig workers at local ride-hailing and delivery platforms have shown no improvement since last year, according to a study, highlighting financial insecurity and safety risks due to limited protections.
None of the ten platforms demonstrated fair pay and representation among workers, Fairwork said in a statement e-mailed to reporters on Thursday.
On fair management, two out of the ten platforms (GrabCar and GrabExpress/Food) received a point for having formalized processes that allow workers to appeal decisions.
“Platform-related indebtedness, a major finding in this year's study, pertains to a situation where gig workers become indebted — to informal money lenders, vehicle companies, operators, and contractors — in the aspirational process of gaining access to platform work,” said Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano, the principal investigator at Fairwork Philippines, in a press statement.
“The end result is the rider or driver being chained to platform labor for survival, working longer and harder hours to make a living.”
TUESDAY 8/22/23 Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reviews his ‘nightmare' while moonlighting as an Uber driver. Fortune reported:
The initiative, called Project Boomerang internally, saw Khosrowshahi driving the streets of San Francisco on several occasions. When asked about his worst “nightmare” experience, he revealed it wasn't actually involving any passenger he picked up in his car.
“It was when I was a courier,” Khosrowshahi told the WSJ. “I was trying to deliver food and I couldn't find where to drop it off. Trying to figure out the maze of apartment complexes was a challenge.”
Back in 2021, Khosrowshahi told the New York Times that he “nearly got killed” by traffic when the San Francisco Giants were playing.
On the bright side, Khosrowshahi said his work experience had taught him that Uber needs to do more to make its drivers passionate about what they do.
WEDNESDAY 8/23/23 Instacart's business slows as it heads for IPO. Insider Intelligence adds:
While Instacart's revenues rose over 30% year-over-year (YoY) to about $1.4 billion in the first half of 2023, its gross transaction volume grew just 5% YoY, per The Information.
It is questionable whether that growth model is sustainable, which is problematic given that Instacart executives may begin their IPO pitches to investors as early as next week, per Bloomberg.
Instacart's slowdown in its core delivery business is a marked contrast with the 27% and 10% growth reported by DoorDash's and Uber's delivery services over the same period. While both those companies primarily provide restaurant delivery, they are rapidly growing their grocery businesses. For example, our forecast expects DoorDash to make $5.26 billion in online grocery sales this year, which is over nine times the $580 million it generated in 2020.
THURSDAY 8/24/23 Minneapolis mayor vetos what would have been a major win for drivers. Fortune adds:
The mayor of Minneapolis on Tuesday vetoed minimum wages for Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hailing drivers, a move one city council member described as “an inexcusable betrayal of Minneapolis workers.”
Mayor Jacob Frey instead negotiated with Uber, securing an agreement for higher pay for only those drivers.
In his veto message, Frey wrote he “secured a commitment from Uber” that drivers picking up passengers in Minneapolis or driving within the city will make the city's minimum wage of $15 an hour. The company also committed to paying Uber drivers at least $5 for any trip in the metro area.
Lyft drivers are not covered by the mayor's deal.
“This veto is an inexcusable betrayal of Minneapolis workers,” Wonsley said in a statement. “The ordinance was developed over eight months of consultation with drivers, city staff, and national experts.”
FRIDAY 8/24/23 Uber raises the age to drive in California to 25. AP business reported:
Uber raised the minimum age requirement for most of its new drivers in California to 25 on Thursday under rules the company said are necessary because of the rising costs of commercial auto insurance in the state.
The new rule applies only to drivers signing up to transport passengers with Uber's ride-hailing platform, and not for those delivering food with Uber Eats. Previously, people as young as 21 could sign up to drive customers, and the age limit for deliveries was 19.
Those under 25 who activated their accounts prior to Wednesday can continue to drive for Uber, the company said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Robotaxis go wild, Minnesota drivers win big and is Uber broken?
we sit down with Torsten the Rideshare Professor to discuss on This Week In Rideshare.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
New features come to Chicago, Lyft wants to drop surge pricing, and Seattle fights deactivations. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 8/7/23 Some driver groups aren't pro driver at all. Fast Company reported:
In Massachusetts, two coalitions, each claiming to represent the real voice of rideshare drivers — but with sharply different funders — released dueling ballot initiatives this week to decide the rights of Uber and Lyft drivers.
What may not be immediately obvious to voters is that the group is bankrolled by tens of millions of dollars from the gig companies. It's a reboot of their failed ballot initiative in 2022, a similar proposal that was struck down by the state's high court for confusing voters with “murky language.” Advocates say it's just a cynical attempt to use workers' faces to block them from receiving much-needed labor protections — and it just might succeed.
TUESDAY 8/8/23 Drivers struggle for wins on the state level. Bloomberg Law reported:
In Colorado, a bill that died in committee would have required companies to provide drivers and riders detailed information about ride fees and how much drivers are paid.
Connecticut lawmakers considered a measure mandating pay rates for drivers, but it stalled after first being reduced to a task force.
In cases where compromise seems challenging, even staunchly pro-labor Democrats might be reluctant to pass legislation without direct buy-in from the likes of Uber and Lyft.
California's AB 5 worker classification law passed in 2019 despite industry opposition, only to get tied up in litigation for years and eventually reversed by a ballot measure that ride-share companies favored.
WEDNESDAY 8/9/23 New safety features come to Chicago. Fox32 reported:
Uber is expanding its in-app safety features for Chicago drivers and riders beginning Wednesday, the rideshare company announced.
Users in nearly 150 cities in the United States now have the option to use an audio recording feature during their ride.
The recording will remain private, not even accessible to the company, unless a driver or rider submits a safety report to Uber and attaches the file.
Riders and drivers will receive a notification prior to their ride if either person has the feature enabled.
THURSDAY 8/10/23 Lyft wants to kill surge pricing. TechCrunch reported:
Lyft appears to be not only trying to keep prices competitive with Uber, it's also working to kill off surge pricing, or “primetime” as the company calls it.
During Tuesday's earnings call, Risher said that surge pricing might work to incentivize more drivers during peak service, but it also acts as a demand suppressor when riders don't want to pay exorbitant fees just to get home after work.
“[Primetime pricing] is a bad form of price raising,” said Risher. “It's particularly bad because riders hate it with a fiery passion. And so we're really trying to get rid of it, and because we've got such a good driver supply…it's decreased significantly.”
FRIDAY 8/11/23 Seattle drivers get protections against deactivations. KIRO7 reported:
The bill, labeled CB 120580, changes how companies such as DoorDash, GrubHub and Instacart can deactivate their gig workers as it requires “14 days notice of an impending deactivation, except in the case of egregious misconduct,” the bill reads. There are other requirements as well.
“App-based work is work. It is done by human beings who deserve a stable work environment. Their livelihoods should not hinge on the decisions of an algorithm,” Herbold said in a council statement after the bill passed 6–2. “This law, the first of its kind in the nation, will protect app-based workers from arbitrary deactivation and give them meaningful recourse to appeal to a human being if they are deactivated.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Autonomous, Shoppers, and Profits. Test driver is charged, drivers pay gets cut, and Uber makes money. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 7/31/23 The test driver in the deadly autonomous vehicle crash gets sentenced. Jalopnik reported:
In March 2018, one of Uber's autonomous prototypes hit a pedestrian crossing the street. The victim, Elaine Herzberg, was taken to the hospital and later died from her injuries. It was later revealed that Rafaela Vasquez, the safety operator, was looking at her phone leading up to the fatal crash. At the time there were questions about whether Vasquez or Uber would be held responsible for Herzberg's death, but five years later, the court has pinned the blame on Vasquez.
CNN reports that Vasquez pleaded guilty to endangerment on Friday, after initially being charged with negligent homicide back in 2020. She was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and will only have a misdemeanor on her record after she completes her sentence. Vasquez will also have to pay restitution to the victims, which includes the insurance companies.
Uber settled with Herzberg's family soon after her death and did not face any criminal charges. It later came out that Uber had removed a “key fail-safe” that likely could have prevented her death because it braked too frequently, and the company was under pressure to keep up with rival Waymo.
TUESDAY 8/1/23 Instacart cuts its base pay for drivers. Business Insider reported:
Drivers for the delivery service are now paid a minimum of $4 per order, down from $7, according to the company and interviews and screenshots from three drivers. The cut affects base pay, or an amount that Instacart workers are guaranteed to get if they accept an order. They can earn more from customer tips.
Instacart's blog post says that orders with at least $4 in base pay might involve “delivering a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream.” But screenshots sent to Insider by Instacart shoppers from the last few days show more complex orders. One order sent by a shopper in Indiana required driving just over a mile from the store — but only after picking up 45 items in at a grocery store for pay of just under $7.
WEDNESDAY 8/2/23 Uber makes a profit, but stock still sinks. Forbes reported:
Uber posted a positive operative income for the first time in its history last quarter, but its share price flailed in early Tuesday trading as concerns about slowing sales outweighed investor optimism for the long bleeding business.
But the stock quickly turned negative after the market opened, sliding as much as 6%, which would have been its worst day since October 11, 2022, before recovering to a milder 4% loss which is its steepest since March.
Despite the record profit, Uber's $9.2 billion in revenue came short of consensus estimates, while its 14% year-over-year revenue growth was its weakest since Q1 2021.
Even after its roughly 100% surge over the past year, Uber stock is still down roughly 20% from its early 2021 peak.
THURSDAY 8/3/23 Uber CEO shocked to learn price of a ride. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Wired's editor at large, Steven Levy, took a 2.95-mile Uber ride from downtown New York City to the West Side to meet Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. When asked to estimate the cost of the ride, Khosrowshahi put it at “twenty bucks,” Levy wrote. His estimate, as it turned out, was less than half the actual price of $51.69, including a tip for the driver.
“Oh my God. Wow,” the CEO said upon learning the cost.
That wasn't the worst of it. Levy said that when he first tried to book an Uber to get to the interview, the price was $20 higher. Khosrowshahi chalked that up to surge pricing, though as Levy noted, “It's 10 am on a sunny weekday, and it's not like the president's in town.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Attorney Bryant Greening invites Dr. Calarco of Accident Treatment Centers to discuss the medical process, treatment and services available to drivers after accidents.
A dangerous time to walk, a carjacking ring gets busted and Uber sues over a wage hike. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 7/3/23 Uber CEO talks green. Today added:
Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talks about the company's goal to be at zero emissions in the U.S. by 2030 and also weighs in on autonomous vehicles. NBC's Savannah Sellers reports for TODAY.
TUESDAY 7/4/23 It's the most dangerous time to be a pedestrian in over 40 years. CNN explains:
A study of State Highway Safety Offices data released by the Governor's Highway Safety Association in June assessed American drivers killed at least 7,500 pedestrians in 2022. That's the most of any year since 1981. Missing data from Oklahoma means the final number is likely even higher.
Experts attribute the increase of deaths on faster driving speeds, a lack of pedestrian-friendly road infrastructure and consumer tastes shifting towards increasingly heavier and high-riding trucks and SUVs.
WEDNESDAY 7/5/23 A major carjacking ring in Minneapolis has been stopped. Bring Me The News explains:
A Minneapolis man has pleaded guilty to his role in a “violent carjacking ring” that targeted Uber and Lyft drivers in the Twin Cities.
The plea by Shevirio Kavirion Childs-Young, 20, was announced last week by U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger, who says Childs-Young “engaged in a series of violent carjackings and armed robberies” in September and October 2021.
The robbery scheme would lure Uber and Lyft drivers to certain parts of the metro for a pickup or a dropoff, and when they arrived there would be an armed group waiting, demanding the victims' cellphones and wallets.
THURSDAY 7/6/23 Uber drivers are getting targeted by highly sophisticated scams. Live5News reported:
Uber drivers across the Lowcountry are getting scammed by what they call a “highly sophisticated scammer,” taking hard-earned money away in a new way.
Multiple Uber employees say that the scammers are calling drivers on their personal cellphones with a phone number popping up as a verified Uber corporate number, confusing drivers from the start.
Binion says he quickly transferred money from his Pro Card to his checking account upon feeling suspicious about the call, but the scammer still took $70 from him before catching onto the plan.
FRIDAY 7/7/23 Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub sue NYC. AOL adds:
Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub sued New York City Thursday over a new rule that would require the food delivery companies to pay their workers nearly $18 an hour.
DoorDash and Grubhub argued in a joint suit that the “ill-conceived” rule would have “drastic” and “immediate” consequences, while Uber warned in a separate lawsuit that the city's “grand marketplace experiment risks crushing restaurants and the increasingly important food delivery market.”
Uber argued that the rule was based on “flawed data resulting from biased surveys and unrealistic assumptions that amount to little more than wishful thinking,” a sentiment that was echoed in the lawsuit from DoorDash and Grubhub.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Questions on how Uber screens drivers, teens get access in Atlanta and gig companies complain about pay. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 6/19/23 A lawsuit in Florida raises questions on how Uber screens its drivers. ABC Action News reported:
FL passengers accuse Uber of letting criminals behind the wheel.
“Incomprehensible, really, that something like this could occur,” said Damian Josefsberg, a South Florida businessman who claims his identity was stolen by an Uber driver.
Grace and Josefsberg are now suing Uber, blaming the ride-sharing giant of failing to properly screen its drivers to allow criminals behind the wheel.
According to the lawsuit, Oliveras Rivera's history includes serious run-ins with the law that date back more than twenty years. Those incidents include multiple arrests and a 2002 felony conviction for drug possession and first-degree robbery with a firearm in New York.
TUESDAY 6/20/23 Uber for teens launches in Atlanta. But is that a good thing? WSB-TV reported:
Uber for teens allows parents to arrange a ride for teens ages 13–17.
Safety features include PIN verification, GPS tracking, and expanded communication for parents and the teens.
“Do Uber and Lyft have sufficient precautions in place, sufficient training, sufficient technology, sufficient sophistication to identify whether or not that child who enters the vehicle may be in trouble?” are some of the questions U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff wants to be answered.
One of his concerns is human trafficking, and whether predators might be arranging a ride for a teenager they meet through apps or online.
WEDNESDAY 6/21/23 The family of an Uber driver who was shot seeks justice. KFOX14 reported:
The family of an El Paso Uber driver who was shot in the head said they'll soon have to decide if they should take him off life support.
Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, was shot by his passenger, 48-year-old Phoebe Copas of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, on U.S. 54 near Loop 375, police said.
Copas told police she shot Piedra because she thought he was kidnapping her when she saw an exit sign for Juarez, Mexico, court documents stated.
Lopez believed that stereotypes about the border may have led to her uncle being shot.
“They make assumptions, they see stuff maybe on the news, maybe on social media, and stuff that's not necessarily true and when they come here they come without really knowing,” Lopez said.
THURSDAY 6/22/23
Bolt will now be delivering food to your door via a robot. CNBC reported:
Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt says it will begin delivering food to people's doors from a fleet of self-driving robots through a partnership with robotics firm Starship Technologies.
Just like ordering food online from apps in the typical way, Bolt's Starship partnership will allow users to get their food delivered from robots at the tap of a button.
Once the robot arrives at your door, you'll be able to press a button that opens it up and receive your meals or groceries.
FRIDAY 6/23/23 Gig companies say they can't pay workers more. But is it the truth? Slate reported:
Last week, New York City finalized a rule setting a minimum pay standard of $17.96 per hour for delivery workers for gig companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates. The new rule resulted from an extended campaign by Los Deliveristas Unidos, a fierce organization of delivery workers who brave traffic, snow, floods, heat, smoke, and COVID to bring New Yorkers our dinner.
Gig companies often offer grim prophesies that don't come true when jurisdictions try to regulate them. And New York City's economic experts identified various ways the companies can adjust to the new status quo without excessively increasing customer prices. The new pay rule will ensure that delivery workers are treated more justly as they serve New York diners, who are highly unlikely to stop ordering in.
When the government moves to regulate gig companies in any way, these corporations routinely forecast catastrophe; Uber even threatened to leave California, Seattle, and Minnesota if they didn't get their way on certain issues. But in the end, when Uber and friends have been regulated, the sky didn't fall. New York City in 2019 created what was effectively a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers, and companies predicted significantly increased prices; Lyft even filed an unsuccessful lawsuit. Happily, though, the pay floor worked: A 2020 report found that in the first year, “driver pay increased by about nine percent, passenger fares rose slightly but not much more than in Chicago without a pay standard, passenger wait times declined significantly, and some of the pay increase was absorbed by the app-dispatch companies through lower effective commission rates.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
In this episode, we talk about ways to protect yourself, educate yourself and make sure you come out on top should any issues arise.
Plus, we invite Lenny Sanchez, Executive Director of Independent Driver's Guild of Illinois, to weigh in on how IDG is helping drivers.
You got into an accident and didn't call?? We discuss the importance of being proactive after accidents and how to protect yourself financially.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber, Lyft, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
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This Week In Rideshare: Tippers, Bills, and Pickups.The top hits bottom, the fight for standards, and Lyft goes into flight. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 5/8/23Drivers say the worst tippers….are the rich. Business Insider reported:
Ray, a 57-year-old Tampa Bay gig worker of seven years who drives at least 50 hours a week for Uber, Lyft, and Instacart, told Insider that roughly one out of four of his riders tip — and that those who do usually only leave a buck or two. But he said that customers who appear to be wealthy are particularly poor tippers.
“They have absolutely no problem paying for expensive meals at places where we pick them up, paying waiters there tips,” he said, “and yet when we get them safely home after a night of drinking, they can't even be bothered to do the same with us?”
When reached for comment, an Uber spokesperson told Insider that tipping has risen considerably for both Uber and Uber Eats over the last few years. A DoorDash spokesperson said that the majority of customers leave tips.
TUESDAY 5/9/23Scooters in Denver get an upgrade. 9News reported:
Lyft said the new scooter offers several features not included in its predecessor, including dual handbrakes, turn signals, a phone holder and charger.
Dual handbrakes offer riders more control, while turn signals allow riders to indicate intent to others. Lyft said the scooters also have visual cues on restrictions such as slow zones, no-parking and no-ride zones.
Other features include a new 400-watt motor with a 50-mile range battery, a new suspension system for a smoother ride, new airless tires with anti-slip tread patterns, and a larger front tire for increased stability.
WEDNESDAY 5/10/23You can now book a flight with Uber. The Verge adds:
Uber is launching a new flight booking tool for its UK customers as part of the company's wider efforts to expand into other travel markets. Hopper, a Canadian-based travel agency, and Uber announced the partnership to sell national and international flights through the ride-sharing app on Wednesday.
Hopper says that Uber customers can book a flight as they would with most travel platforms by inputting their travel details, destination, and dates to find their desired flights. For major airlines, users will also be able to select and pay for their seats directly within the Uber app.
THURSDAY 5/11/23Should Uber be held to the same standards as taxis? LegalRideshare's very own Attorney Bryant Greening thinks so. From Crain's:
As a personal-injury attorney in Illinois, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of rideshare accidents and assaults. That is why it is crucial for ride-hail companies like Uber and Lyft to prioritize safety and be held accountable for any failures in safety measures.
By classifying these companies as “common carriers,” they would be legally required to ensure the safety of their passengers through measures such as comprehensive background checks, regular vehicle maintenance, and safety training for drivers. This change would provide greater protection for passengers and ensure that ride-hail companies take their responsibility to provide safe transportation seriously.
FRIDAY 5/12/23Lyft adds a new airport feature. Gizmodo reported:
Lyft's CEO David Risher announced the company is capitalizing on the opportunity to make travel as easy as possible by ensuring the requested ride is waiting as soon as the traveler walks out of the airport. Lyft spokeswoman Stephanie Rice told Gizmodo in a phone call that the airport feature is intended to remove anxiety and stress for travelers.
After landing at the airport, the traveler opens the app to call a car and will be met with a prompt asking if they have checked bags. Lyft will then match them with a driver and instead of waiting for an uncertain amount of time after exiting the airport, a driver will instead be assigned to arrive as they get closer to the pickup location.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: One Star, House Bill, and Lyft Earnings.A drug dealer review-bombs a driver, Uber fights Illinois and Lyft's stock takes a hit. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 5/1/23A drug dealer gives a gig worker one star. Business Insider reported:
An Uber worker received a one-star review from a customer who was angry that she reported a suspicious package to a police station.
It turned out that the worker from Sydney was right to trust her gut because it contained two grams of crystal methamphetamine hidden in a toothpaste tube.
The worker said she tried to call Uber Eats but didn't get a response, so she flagged the incident on an online form.
A week later, the customer was still on the app, along with the one-star review, while the worker had not been paid for the delivery.
TUESDAY 5/2/23Uber and Lyft go after a new bill in Illinois. WFI Radio adds:
State Rep. Jennifer-Gong Gershowitz, D-Glenview, introduced House Bill 2231, which would set up a new standard for companies like Uber and Lyft by getting rid of an exemption that says rideshare companies are not responsible for their passengers' safety.
The measure comes after an Illinois woman was sexually assaulted by her ride-share driver and sued the company but lost in court due to those companies not being legally responsible for her safety.
Gong-Gershowitz explained her measure during the House debate.
“House Bill 2231 puts rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft on the same playing field as taxis and other common carriers,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “The policy rationale for granting this statutory exemption nearly a decade ago no longer makes sense, and its extended use harms public safety.”
Uber said the cost of the measure will be something Illinois will not be able to handle and urged customers to fill out a petition against the measure.
WEDNESDAY 5/3/23Uber met expectations and bookings went up. Yahoo! Finance reported:
Gross bookings for the company jumped 19% year-over-year, while the company's Mobility business continued to improve with revenue climbing 40% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA tallied $751 million, up from $168 million the same period last year.
Shares rose more than 10% on Tuesday following these results.
THURSDAY 5/4/23Uber expands its pool. Fox Business reported:
UberX Share will be expanded to Baltimore, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. “in the coming weeks,” Shin-Pei Tsay, the head of Cities & Transportation Policy at Uber, said in a post.
The company re-launched the program in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh last summer after briefly pausing in 2020.
“We are now launching UberX Share, I would say, in the right way with economics at work. We are aligning incentives between the rider and the driver and ourselves in terms of pricing as well,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told investors during its first quarter earnings call Tuesday.
FRIDAY 5/5/23Lyft's stock takes a beating. CNBC reported:
Lyft shares dropped nearly 15% in extended trading on Thursday after the ride-hailing company issued a weaker-than-expected forecast for the second quarter.
Lyft reported a net loss of $187.6 million, including stock-based compensation costs and related payroll expenses of $186.6 million. In the year-ago period, the company lost $196.9 million.
“We're improving our rideshare service and are thrilled with the early results,” Lyft CEO David Risher said in a statement. “Riders are taking more rides and drivers have the power to earn more.”
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Layoffs, Arbitration, and Cabbies.Lyft hits the chopping block, drivers aren't exempt, and cabbies can't sue. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 4/24/23Lyft's new CEO says layoffs are coming. The Guardian reported:
The ride-hailing service Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after its new CEO, David Risher, began steering the company with an eye toward driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber.
Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed Lyft's workforce of more than 4,000 employees in an email posted online on Friday that a “significant” number of them will lose their jobs. The message came at the end of his first week as Lyft's CEO.
The note did not specify how many people would be jettisoned, but the Wall Street Journal reported that at least 1,200 employees will be laid off. The report cited unidentified people familiar with the cost-cutting plans.
TUESDAY 4/25/23Chinese EV giant says autonomous driving is impossible. Inside EVs added:
BYD, which is China's largest electric vehicle seller, believes that fully autonomous driving is “basically impossible” and that the technology behind such driver assistance systems would be better suited to manufacturing.
The quote comes from Li Yunfei, one of BYD's spokespeople, who told reporters at the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show that self-driving cars are probably a false proposition, as outlined by CNBC, adding that it would be difficult to pinpoint who is at fault in the case of a traffic accident involving a self-driving vehicle.
“We think self-driving tech that's fully separated from humans is very, very far away, and basically impossible,” Li said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
WEDNESDAY 4/26/23Uber drivers are not interstate workers. Reuters explains:
Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) drivers are not exempt from a U.S. law requiring them to bring work-related legal disputes in private arbitration rather than joining class action lawsuits in court, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
A panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Uber drivers do not qualify for an exemption from the arbitration law for workers involved in interstate commerce because they rarely cross state lines when transporting passengers.
The question of whether the exemption applies to Uber drivers and other gig workers is crucial because it determines whether they can bring large-scale class actions or must individually arbitrate legal claims. Arbitration is often impractical because of the small sums at stake in individual cases.
THURSDAY 4/27/23Amazon Flex app violates privacy law in Illinois. Top Class Actions explains:
Amazon fails to obtain the required informed consent before collecting, storing and disseminating biometric identifiers obtained from its Amazon Flex users, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Rodneka Perry claims Amazon requires Flex users to have their facial geometry collected and stored.
Perry argues Amazon uses its Rekognition image-recognition technology to capture Amazon Flex users' image data but fails to make clear how long it retains the biometric identifiers and information.
“Notwithstanding the clear and unequivocal requirements of the law, Amazon knowingly disregards Plaintiff's and other similarly situated users' statutorily protected privacy rights,” the Amazon class action states.
Perry wants to represent an Illinois class of Amazon Flex users who had their facial geometry scans or any other biometric information, collected, captured, received or otherwise obtained, maintained, stored, used, disclosed or disseminated by Amazon.
FRIDAY 4/28/23NYC cabbies can't sue Uber over medallions. Autoblog explains:
New York's top state court on Thursday threw out claims by yellow cab operators that New York City diminished the value of their taxi licenses by failing to rein in app-based competitors like Uber and Lyft.
The New York Court of Appeals in a unanimous ruling said the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) never promised yellow cab companies that it would take steps to protect the value of their licenses, which are known as medallions and can cost millions of dollars.
The companies claim the value of medallions they purchased in 2013 for an average of $1.3 million each fell by about 75% over the next few years as app-based services became more popular.
But the Court of Appeals, affirming a lower court, said the TLC was not bound to cap the number of app-based cars that could operate in the city when it sold medallions to cab companies.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: HR, Tipping, and Priorities.A driver fights HR, the need for tips, and Lyft is on a mission. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 4/17/23A driver battles with Uber's HR. The Guardian reported:
Alexandru Iftimie, a 39-year-old who came to the UK from Romania seven years ago, was just about making ends meet as an Uber driver during the pandemic when he got an unexpected message from the ride-sharing app.
“I received a warning: ‘We detected some fraudulent activity, therefore you have to stop otherwise I have to fire you,'” he recalls.
“I received a warning: ‘We detected some fraudulent activity, therefore you have to stop otherwise I have to fire you,'” he recalls.
“I said: ‘It has to be a mistake, I know I haven't done anything.' But two weeks later, I received another one: exactly the same message, with the difference that this time they were saying: ‘It's the last warning. One more time, you're done.'”
When he called Uber's driver support line in an effort to understand why he had been flagged, it was a frustrating experience. The problem seemed to be that he had taken an unexpected route, though he insists he had not charged the customer extra for doing so.
“Can you imagine how difficult it was to explain to an Uber operator — I don't know where he was — that the Blackwall tunnel was closed during a trip, and so I had to take a long detour?” he says. He was unable to get an unequivocal explanation of why he had been flagged as “fraudulent” by Uber's systems.
With the help of Worker Info Exchange and his union, Iftimie pursued Uber — and another ride-sharing app for which he worked, Ola — all the way to the court of appeal in Amsterdam, where Uber's European headquarters is based.
The court found that he and other drivers involved in the case, based in the UK and Portugal, had the right to more information about the way automated decisions were made about them.
Just before the case came to court, Uber apologised and acknowledged it had made a mistake. Iftimie hopes the ruling will help others to challenge automated management decisions that threaten their livelihoods — though campaigners warn that legislation going through the UK parliament will weaken data protection rights.
TUESDAY 4/18/23Drivers have made it very clear: they cannot live without tips. The San Francisco Standard reported:
San Francisco Uber driver Marianna Porras said her profit margins are so thin after paying for gas she refuses to take passengers over bridges due to the toll. Porras, a single mom to four school-age kids, also said tips are essential so she can afford groceries.
“I think that we're becoming more dependent on tips because of the costs not being covered by Uber. It helps me get paid out what I should be paid by Uber,” Porras said. “$5 goes a long way; it adds up,” Porras said.
Ride costs have increased in recent years and many drivers are seeing smaller tips because of it, Moore said.
“When the rides were subsidized by investment money, tips were much better. Now these companies are charging as much as they can get away with,” Moore said.
WEDNESDAY 4/19/23Drivers are totally dependent on and totally unhappy with Uber. MarketWatch reported:
The drivers who contacted MarketWatch — many of whom had been working for Uber for several years and were from seven different states — said they were dissatisfied with the company's explanations, which they said were vague, confusing or both.
Based on the drivers' stories and the company's response, what's clear is that the problem is widespread and ongoing. Drivers are constantly being deactivated — with some of them telling MarketWatch that they had been deactivated multiple times — while Uber says it is scrambling to deal with fraud as bad actors adjust to the many different safeguards the company has put in place.
Though Uber has said most of its drivers work part time, many of the drivers who contacted MarketWatch said they were “desperate” to get their primary source of income back.
After logging into the app on a second phone, he said, he was asked to take a photo of himself, and was deactivated after the company said the photo didn't look like him. But footage from his dashcam helped show the company he was where he said he was at the time of his deactivation.
“I would never risk my income this way,” Shibeshi said he told the company. “My life is totally dependent on Uber.”
THURSDAY 4/20/23Lyft's new CEO is focusing on driver & rider experiences. Fox Business adds:
Risher told FOX Business on Tuesday getting the ride-share company “focused on customers, on its drivers and its rider, in a really sort of basic way” and giving them a “great experience” is a “big focus” for him.
Risher also said he has been in “full-on listening mode” on what drivers “want the most.”
Risher said he understood why combining food delivery and rides “may be compelling” as a business model but questioned it in terms of rider and driver experience. Getting in a car “that just dropped off a tuna sandwich” may not be something riders want, he suggested, and drivers could face frustrations while doing deliveries as well.
FRIDAY 4/21/23Robots have landed in Virginia. Fox5 reported:
The online food ordering company announced Thursday that through a partnership with AI-powered robotics company Cartaken, the autonomous sidewalk robots will now begin delivering food to select customers in Fairfax County's Mosaic District.
The options will be limited to start. Uber says at launch, businesses like Our Mom Eugenia, Pupatella, and RASA, will be the only local restaurants taking orders.
But in time, Uber hopes to expand its meals on wheels pilot program to include dining options from more of Mosaic's 40+ thriving restaurants.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: AI, Benefits, and Features.AI changes wages, a win for drivers, and new features drop in NYC. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 4/10/23An Uber Eats driver tries to “game” the system. Business Insider reported:
The 56-year-old, who drives an elderly Subaru, told The New York Times that he focuses on affluent parts of Los Angeles such as Pacific Palisades, where high-value orders are more common. So are big tips — in theory, at least.
He recalled waiting in an alley next to a dumpster in Pacific Palisades one Saturday evening when he nabbed three orders from a high-end sushi restaurant, with one worth $388.
The $388 order tipped just $20, or about 5%, $10 from the first delivery — and nothing from the other order. “It's hard to fathom how people could have so much money and tip so little,” he added.
TUESDAY 4/11/23Uber steps up to stop deadly battery fires. The Verge reported:
Uber says it will fund an e-bike buy-back program for delivery workers in New York City in a bid to get fire-prone batteries off the streets. The company also said it would support an additional fee on food deliveries to help workers afford safer options.
The announcement comes amid a worrisome rise in e-bike fires in New York City that have resulted in at least a dozen deaths. Two children were killed last night in Astoria, Queens, in a fire that authorities say was the result of an exploding lithium-ion battery, according to multiple news outlets.
The New York City Council recently passed legislation prohibiting the sale of uncertified e-bikes and other micromobility devices, while Mayor Eric Adams has called on the private companies that profit from e-bike deliveries to do more.
WEDNESDAY 4/12/23Uber and Amazon use AI to pay people with the same job, different wages. Business Insider reported:
According to Dubal, companies like Amazon and Uber have “massive data sets” on the contract workers using their delivery or rideshare platforms, including when they work, for how long, and what kind of pay they've taken for past jobs. These companies are able to utilize this data to “calculate the exact wage rates necessary to incentivize desired behaviors,” she told the Los Angeles Times, a practice she calls “algorithmic wage discrimination.”
“From Amazon to Uber to the healthcare sector, workers are being paid different amounts for the same amount of work that is conducted for the same amount of time,” said Dubal, whose research was published in the Social Science Research Network in January and will be included in a forthcoming Columbia Law Review.
Dubal said these instances could take the form of a food delivery driver being offered a lower rate than another driver would have been — because the AI algorithm predicted the first driver would be more likely to accept that rate. If a driver tends to work until they hit a certain daily mark, say $100, she said the algorithm might offer them lower rates to keep the driver working longer.
THURSDAY 4/13/23There's a big win for drivers in Washington. KIRO7 reported:
Uber and Lyft drivers in Washington state will be the first in the United States to get Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits.
“Today is a landmark in the fight for worker rights nationwide,” said Peter Kuel, Drivers Union President, in a news release Wednesday. “Washington Uber and Lyft drivers are the first in the nation to win the right to Paid Family and Medical Leave and now have their right to unemployment benefits — a lifeline at the height of the Covid pandemic — enshrined in state law. In the State of Washington, drivers must no longer choose between caring for unwell loved ones and putting food on the table.”
In addition to the change in benefits, the cost of a driver's premiums for Paid Family and Medical Leave will be fully paid by Uber and Lyft. Paid Family and Medical Leave access will come online for drivers in July 2024.
FRIDAY 4/14/23New safety features from Uber roll out in NYC. NBC4 reported:
Starting Wednesday, an in-app feature will allow drivers and riders to record audio during trips. Uber said that the feature can be initiated either before or during the trip, and is aimed to encourage safe and comfortable interactions.
So does the new feature simply allow the company to listen in whenever you're taking a ride? Not so much, Sivaram explained — no one will supposedly be able to listen to the recording (including Uber) unless a safety report is submitted.
Uber said that it plans to extend the feature to New Jersey by the end of 2023.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Attorney Bryant Greening tells us what's TRUE or FALSE relating to accidents, insurance, and more. ------------------------- LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber, Lyft, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free. https://LegalRideshare.com (312)767-7950 Help@LegalRideshare.com
This Week In Rideshare: Ghosts, Lyft and Seattle.Uber Eats chases ghosts, Lyft gets a new CEO and Seattle drivers get a first. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 3/27/23Uber Eats is cracking down on “ghost” menus. Business Insider reported:
The delivery app plans to remove roughly 5,000 brands that sell food through the platform, Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Those restaurants represent about 13% of all virtual brands on Uber Eats, according to the Journal.
The reason: The brands were the result of restaurants copying and pasting their menus in various forms as they tried to win over customers with new names or branding. In one example, a Pakistani restaurant in San Francisco posted its menu 20 times under different names, according to the Journal.
TUESDAY 3/28/23Lyft gets a new CEO. CNN reported:
Lyft announced on Monday that Amazon veteran David Risher will join as chief executive next month, and that co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer will step down from their management positions at the ride-hailing company.
The leadership shakeup at the ride-hailing company comes as it has struggled to turn a profit over the years and after its stock has taken a beating in recent months, shedding more than 13% so far in 2023. Late last year the company said it was cutting 13% of its staff, or 700 employees, as part of a major effort to cut costs. Lyft's stock rose about 4% in after-hours trading Monday on the news.
WEDNESDAY 3/29/23
The Seattle City Council today unanimously approved rules providing paid sick leave for food-delivery and other on-demand, app-based gig economy workers. The city appears to be the first in the nation to permanently ensure these protections.
According to the new rules, gig workers will accrue one day of time off for every 30 days of work that include a stop in Seattle. The amount paid will be an average of the compensation earned in the preceding 12 months. Nine days of paid sick leave can be carried over annually. And delivery companies are required to provide workers with written information about these benefits on a monthly basis.
THURSDAY 3/30/23Uber expands its EV service. Engadget reported:
Uber announced today that it's adding 14 new markets to Comfort Electric, its EV rideshare service. The program allows you to hail electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Polestar 2. It's another small step toward the company's goal of phasing out gas-powered vehicles by 2030.
Beginning today, Uber's Comfort Electric program adds availability for Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Minneapolis / St. Paul, Montreal, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Tampa Bay and Toronto. The program's rollout began last May in California and expanded to 25 US markets in September. Comfort Electric is separate from Uber Green, which costs the same as UberX but includes hybrid vehicles in addition to electrics. The company also offers e-bikes and e-scooters in partnership with Lime for customers who can skip cars altogether.
FRIDAY 3/31/23Have a bad rating as an Uber passenger? Business Insider explains why:
An Uber driver previously told Insider that people with ratings between 4.7 and 4.79 were decent riders, but might have “questionable history.” Passengers can't see the review for each ride, so I spoke to four Uber drivers across the US to find out what makes them dish out one-star ratings.
After finding out my Uber history, Steven Higgs, an Uber driver who has driven for the company for about six years, said he couldn't think of anything that would bring down my rating unless I'd made drivers wait for me. He said that he always rates his passengers five stars.
“If you have a lot of stuff to load up, that takes time that we have to sit there while you load and unload your stuff — time that we are not paid for,” one Uber driver based in Houston said. The driver asked to remain anonymous, but Insider has verified their identity.
The driver in Houston said that it doesn't have to be the main rider; it could be the rider's loud, drunk, or obnoxious companions that could lead to a one-star rating.
Ratings are also dependent on how riders treat the vehicles. Banging suitcases into the cars and slamming the doors could bring down your rating, the Uber driver in Houston, who has driven for the company for 15 months, said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Bills, AB5, and $36. Illinois and Uber clash, AB5 back on the chopping block, and a Connecticut bill offering drivers $36/hr. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 3/20/23Uber threatens to leave Illinois if a new bill is passed. MyStateline.com added:
A bill in the state capitol would remove the exemption of drivers of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft to be classified as “common carriers”. Under a 2014 law, drivers working for companies like Uber and Lyft were exempt from the law.
The bill follows a recent high-profile Illinois court case. In Doe v. Lyft, a woman in Chicago was allegedly sexually assaulted by her Lyft driver. The woman sued the driver, Lyft, and the company used by Lyft for background checks, but Lyft argued since their drivers were defined by Illinois law not to be common carriers, they were not liable for any damages.
Lyft officials are strongly opposed to the bill. They argue with the current laws in place, only 0.0002% of their rides have a registered safety incident. Representatives of the company also say the new rule would increase the cost for riders.
Uber is also against the bill. They argue if the bill becomes law, it may cause them to end services in some parts of the state and impact service for users in the state.
TUESDAY 3/21/23Uber's new tech stops older victims from being scammed. WESH2 reported:
“They would call them and say ‘hey, your grandson's been arrested. He ran into a pregnant woman and we need $10,000 bond to get him out of jail,'” Uber's Head of Global Security and Investigations Vince Lisi said.
“So my investigators went and looked at these trips. And they identified a signature for them. Kinda like a digital fingerprint,” Lisi said.
Uber engineers created an alert system for that digital fingerprint covering the 1 million global trips every hour.
And immediately once it was turned on the system's first alert came from Brevard County last week. So the company alerted the sheriff's office.
“In this case, we were successful in stopping that money drop and getting the money back to the victims,” said Brevard County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Tod Goodyear.
WEDNESDAY 3/22/23AB5 is back on the chopping block. Freightwaves reported:
A lawsuit against AB5 brought by Uber, Postmates and two of their gig drivers failed in a lower federal court in California in 2020 but has been partially revived on appeal.
The partial reversal of the lower court case was handed down Friday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. With the reversal, the efforts by Uber, Lyft and in this case Postmates pushing back against implementing AB5 for app-based drivers scored two major victories in one week.
One of the central arguments of Uber and Postmates centers on the long list of exemptions for specified industries that were approved either in the original AB5 legislation or in subsequent laws. Many of those exemptions were added to the list after some initially nonexempt industries found themselves in chaos under AB5. (Foreign language translators were a major example.) The appellate court decision lists all the groups exempted in what amounts to almost a roll call.
THURSDAY 3/23/23An Uber driver in Tampa is being hailed a hero. WFLA reported:
A Tampa man is calling his Uber driver a hero for jumping into action after a driver crashed their vehicle right in front of them.
“This red Toyota Tacoma comes kind of flying and it flips two or three, or three or four times, and it lands, thankfully, goes through one lane of traffic and lands in the grassy median,” Fox recalled.
Fox said his Uber driver, Almir immediately pulled over to check on the passengers.
When they heard someone cry out for help, John said Almir didn't hesitate before jumping into action and pulling the driver out of the truck to safety.
FRIDAY 3/24/23A new proposal in Connecticut would pay drivers $36 an hour. CT insider reported:
Drivers who deliver food and groceries, as well as Uber and Lyft drivers would be paid $36 per hour, plus $1.30 per mile under legislation that next heads to the state Senate. The so-called predictable-scheduling bill, aimed at protecting workers in the retail, food service, hospitality and long-term health care industries with companies of 500 employees or more, moves next to the state House of Representatives.
The scheduling bill would require employers to notify workers of their coming hours two weeks in advance, and force them to pay workers half their pay for each hour lost, if their shifts are changed with less than a week's notice. It would affect employers with more than 500 employees globally, including big-box stores and restaurants with more than 30 locations. Such employers have been identified with forcing employees to pick up shifts with no notice, or send them home even if they had been scheduled to work.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Lawsuits, California, and Gas.We file a lawsuit against Lyft, California court favors Uber and the best speed to save money. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 3/13/23The mother of a Lyft driver who was tragically killed on the job, is suing the company. ABC 20 reported:
According to the lawsuit, Williams' mother, Tia Williams, and Lyft supposedly knew Williams was using the app to target rideshare drivers but failed to take action.
“The family has reason to believe that this was not the first time in which the suspect used a rideshare application to target a rideshare driver for some malfeasance or criminal act,” said LegalRideshare attorney and co-founder Bryant Greening.
TUESDAY 3/14/23California court sides with Uber. NPR added:
App-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft can continue to treat their California drivers as independent contractors, a state appeals court ruled Monday, allowing the tech giants to bypass other state laws requiring worker protections and benefits.
The ruling mostly upholds a voter-approved law, called Proposition 22, that said drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft are independent contractors and are not entitled to benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance. A lower court ruling in 2021 had said Proposition 22 was illegal, but Monday's ruling reversed that decision.
WEDNESDAY 3/15/23Uber's biggest obstacle? Gig workers. Reuters reported:
Uber Technologies (UBER.N) and Lyft (LYFT.O) dodged a pothole, but bigger roadblocks may be on the horizon. A California court on Monday found in favor of letting the ride-sharing companies classify their drivers as independent contractors. That doesn't eliminate risks from recent unionization drives and plentiful jobs elsewhere, though.
Keeping workers off permanent payroll will help tamp down potential costs. Jefferies estimates Uber, Lyft and food delivery service DoorDash (DASH.N) will avoid a $20 million to $170 million knock on next year's earnings thanks to the ruling. Shares in all three companies were up around 6% in late-morning trading on Tuesday.
THURSDAY 3/16/23Is there an optimal speed to save gas and money? Wired explains:
Here is the dilemma: If you drive fast, it takes more gas, which costs more money. If you drive slower, it takes less gas, so you will save money. But you will also sacrifice time — time you could spend on the clock at work, earning money.
Let's say that you have a car with an EPA-listed highway mileage of 33 mpg. According to this, driving at 50 mph would give you 47.6 miles per gallon and driving at 70 mph would get you only 36.1 mpg.
You can see that with these values, the best commuting speed is 66 mph for a distance cost of 48 cents per mile. Each trip of 30 miles would cost $14.41. Ouch.
Even with a fuel efficiency of over 45 mpg, you still shouldn't drive faster than 70 mph if you want to save money.
FRIDAY 3/17/23As Uber rolls out “Record My ride” features, some have concerns about privacy. FOX 8 reported:
Here's how it works: riders and drivers can add the safety feature in the app's Safety Toolkit section. After it's enabled, the option to “record audio” can be initiated by hitting “start.” Both parties can begin or end a recording at any time during a trip. The feature automatically shuts off after a trip is completed.
Uber says audio files are encrypted and stored on the device of the person who enabled it. The company explains that “no one can listen to the audio — including Uber, the rider or the driver” while the recording is on a device.
Uber does not have access to it unless one of the parties submits an issue and attaches it. Only at this time will the audio file be decrypted and heard by a safety agent for review, Uber says.
“… if a driver chooses to enable this feature, it sends a message to the rider, alerting them that audio may be recorded during their trip,” said Uber's Head of Privacy and Security Public Policy Uttara Sivaram.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Airports, Pay and Alto.Uber aids air travel, drivers get a raise, and Alto keeps growing. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 3/6/23Uber drivers reveal their pet peeves. Autoblog adds:
Are you always late to your Uber? Less than polite to drivers? Ask them to stop at drive-thrus? You may not like it, but you could be an Uber driver's worst nightmare.
Rude passengers
Requesting stops at drive-thrus or convenience stores
Not tipping
Arriving late
No-go zones
TUESDAY 3/7/23Uber makes getting a ride from the airport a little easier. Engadget reported:
Uber is introducing a few updates that can streamline trips to and from airports. Most notably, you'll get walking directions for the pickup location, and ETAs for baggage claim. You can hustle if you need a ride quickly, or take your time collecting your bags.
Uber Reserve will also be more useful for scheduling your ground travel. The company now allows booking rides up to 90 days in advance instead of 30, making it easier to plan every step of your vacation. Reserve will also be available in many more North American cities (over 7,300), and New York City customers can book UberX, XL and Comfort rides in addition to Black and Black SUV. A Business Comfort tier, meanwhile, will provide a “unique” experience for work travellers.
Walking ETAs will “soon” be available in over 400 airports. The Business Comfort option will be available sometime in the near future.
WEDNESDAY 3/8/23Drivers in Boston are pushing to unionize. NBC Boston reported:
A group of about 30 ride-hailing drivers gathered in front of the State House Tuesday to push lawmakers to pass a bill that would grant such workers the right to unionize in Massachusetts.
Known among drivers as “Rideshare Drivers Justice Bill,” the act was filed by lead sponsors Rep. Frank Moran, state Sen. Liz Miranda and state Sen. Jason Lewis, and is backed by the Drivers Demand Justice coalition. It would grant drivers access to collective bargaining rights, discrimination protection, unemployment insurance, paid sick time and guaranteed minimum wage.
Companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. consider their drivers to be independent contractors, which don't have a federal right to form a union. The National Labor Relations Act protects that right for employees, but explicitly excludes independent contractors.
THURSDAY 3/9/23Uber & Lyft drivers get a pay increase. Crain's New York reported:
The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission approved a roughly 9% pay increase compared to last year's rates for drivers Wednesday, following a legal fight with Uber that blocked a similar raise from taking effect in December.
Minimum pay increases to the per-mile and per-minute rates mean that a 7.5 mile, 30-minute trip will result in a base fare of $26.76 for drivers. The raise is an increase of $2.16 — or 8.78% — from the rates in effect as of January. The increase, TLC officials said, is to account for gas, car payments and other ballooning driver expenses that outpaced inflation last year. Uber and Lyft are expected to pass the pay increase on to passengers.
In an email, a spokesperson for Uber called the new pay rules “more reasonable then what was previously proposed.” A representative from Lyft agreed.
FRIDAY 3/10/23While Uber & Lyft struggle to make a profit, Alto keeps growing. Forbes reported:
Founded in 2018, Alto has survived the COVID-19 pandemic, the car shortage and consequent high pricing, as well as the challenges of a start-up taking on dominant industry players. We met some of the Alto team and saw its vehicles at the recent Curbivore conference in downtown Los Angeles.
Alto says that a key differentiator is that, unlike the rideshare companies, its drivers are W-2 employees, who are interviewed, background checked, and professionally trained.
A company spokesperson says the idea is to create a consistent, elevated experience for the passenger on every ride. The company describes its pricing as and service model as “Black Car” in the sense that its vehicles are standardized, drivers are employees and vehicles will arrive reliably, especially when pre-booked.
Currently, Will Coleman, Co-Founder and CEO, says the company's focus is on “top line growth and profitability from the luxury segment where we compete, achieving better economics from more vehicles and customers.”
This Week In Rideshare: Deactivations, Deaths and Driving Tech.Gig workers get fired, deaths on the rise and robots aiding drivers. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 2/27/23Drivers strike at LaGuardia. CBS News reported:
Mohammed, a father of three, is one of thousands of drivers planning to go on strike at the airport.
“We're striking to get our raise back. TLC gave us a raise, and Uber blocked it, took TLC to the court and won the case,” he said.
Drivers are demanding their full raise for operating costs, a stop to unfair driver deactivations, more for out-of-town trips and 85 percent of their fare or the full TLC rate.
TUESDAY 2/28/23Uber and Lyft are more likely to deactivate drivers of color. Wired reported:
Jordan, who estimates that he earned between $8,000-$10,000 per month as an Uber driver, appealed to the company multiple times, frantically emailing to try and get his account reinstated, but was told that his deactivation was final. One customer alleged that Jordan had tried to hit her with his car. In response, he offered to send the company footage from his dashcam to prove the incident hadn't occurred. “But they weren't interested in that,” he said.
Of the 810 drivers surveyed, 69 percent of non-white drivers said they had faced either permanent or temporary deactivation, as opposed to only 57 percent of white drivers. Drivers who didn't speak English or were not entirely proficient in English were also much more likely to have their accounts deactivated than those who speak the language fluently.
WEDNESDAY 3/1/23Pedestrian deaths continue to rise. Automotive News adds:
Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. rose 5 percent in the first half of 2022, averaging 19 fatalities per day, according to an analysis by the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Drivers struck and killed 3,434 people in the first six months of 2022, an increase of 168 deaths from the same period a year earlier, the organization said in a report issued early Tuesday.
2021 already marked a 40-year high in pedestrian deaths.
THURSAY 3/2/23Discarded e-scooters are posing dangers. BBC reported:
Ms Gayton, a street access campaigner for the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK), said on a visit to Newcastle earlier this month she found scooters creating “obstructions for any blind, visually impaired, older and disabled people”.
She said she also experienced people riding them on pavements past her which was “frightening”.
Neuron Mobility, the firm responsible for the scooters, said it worked with disability groups to “promote safer streets” and offered an “online riding school” for users.
A spokesman said riders were required to park at designated spots controlled by “geofencing” and scooters were fitted with “topple detection” to “alert our operations team if they have been left on their side”.
He added that reports of bad parking were dealt with swiftly but it was impossible to “eliminate bad parking and riding entirely”.
FRIDAY 3/3/23Ford focuses on robots helping…not replacing drivers. Bloomberg reported:
Ford Motor Co. is forming a new unit to focus on semi-autonomous features and is hiring about one-quarter of the workers from its former self-driving affiliate Argo AI.
Ford and Volkswagen jettisoned Argo after determining it would take too long to realize a return on the billions they had invested in the self-driving startup. Ford took a $2.7 billion write-down on its investment last year. Argo had more than 2,000 workers as of July last year.
Argo's demise showed how attitudes about self-driving technology have swiftly changed. The idea of free-range robotaxis navigating congested cities now is seen as a distant dream.
Ford says Latitude will focus on near term-automated technology that assists human drivers, but doesn't replace them entirely with robots.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
It sounds crazy, even "click-baity" but it is more than possible! LegalRideshare co-founder and lead attorney Bryant Greening explains the process, the results and debunks some of the common myths along the way.
This Week In Rideshare: Gen Z, Fares, and Lyft.Gen Z isn't driving, drivers aren't benefiting, and Lyft isn't winning. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 2/13/23Gen Z has no interest in driving. Washington Post reported:
Unlike previous generations, they don't see cars as a ticket to freedom or a crucial life milestone. The question — for American drivers and for the planet — is whether that trend will last.
In 1997, 43 percent of 16-year-olds and 62 percent of 17-year-olds had driver's licenses. In 2020, those numbers had fallen to 25 percent and 45 percent. “Anecdotally, we're hearing that younger people aren't driving or getting their licenses as quickly as in the past,” said Mark Friedlander, the director of communications at the Insurance Information Institute.
Gen Zers point to many reasons they are turning their backs on cars: anxiety, finances, environmental concern. Many members of Gen Z say they haven't gotten licensed because they're afraid of getting into accidents — or of driving itself.
TUESDAY 2/14/23While Uber and Lyft fares skyrocketed, drivers didn't see the benefits. Vice reported:
Between February 2019 and April 2022, “median driver pay increased by 31% compared to an increase of 50% for median passenger fare,” according to the report, which parsed data from 50 million trips.
They found that in February 2019, the median driver pay per trip was $10.99 and the median passenger fare was $12.22. By April 2022, that gap had grown; the median driver pay per trip was $14.41 and the median fare was $18.39. Uber and Lyft's share of profits from each ride increased from 9 percent in 2019 to 20.7 percent in April 2022, researchers concluded.
WEDNESDAY 2/15/23Lyft's focus on rides…isn't paying off. NY Times reported:
The company's decision not to deliver food or offer rides outside North America proved costly as it recovered from the pandemic, giving Uber a firm advantage that has prompted questions about Lyft's future.
Still, over the past six months, Lyft paid drivers an average of 19 percent less in base pay per hour than Uber, and Lyft drivers drove about six hours fewer per month than Uber drivers, according to Gridwise, an app that helps drivers track their earnings.
Mr. Green and Mr. Zimmer were presented with options to improve the driver experience and talking points to rebut exaggerated claims. But they dragged their feet on responding to the suggestions or putting in place changes, two former senior employees said.
THURSDAY 2/16/23Uber rolls out new safety features in Atlanta. Fox 5 Atlanta reported:
Uber officials told FOX 5 the company started testing out the audio recording feature in 2021 in nine other US cities. Riders can start recording before their driver arrives or in the middle of a ride while drivers have the ability to record over multiple trips.
“Nobody has access to the audio recording — not even Uber or the person who recorded it. Its stays encrypted on the device and Uber can only listen to this if the rider or driver share the audio recording with us as part of a safety report,” he explained.
They hope use of the feature from both riders and drivers will help prevent instances where safety is compromised — altogether.
FRIDAY 2/17/23A new startup in Minneapolis is an Uber-like app for short deliveries. Star Tribune reported:
Entrepreneur Jon Schoen and his partners launched Trunkdrop in January…Similar to Uber, users are able to select the closest — or cheapest — driver to pick up or drop of items, Schoen said.
While a benefit for consumers, Schoen also wanted to add sustainable income for people who rely on their cars to make money.
Trunkdrop does not plan routes, or set pay rates for drivers, Schoen said. Instead, the driver determines how much they are to be paid per hour. A fraction of the driver's time is calculated for the total paid.
Trunkdrop performs a background check on every driver implemented into the system, Schoen said. A driver must be 18 and older and have a valid driver's license to be on the network, and is required to attach their personal bank account list to receive payment.
Due to popular demand, we've decided to answer the age-old question: "Aren't you just ambulance chasers??" LegalRideshare co-founder and attorney Bryant Greening answers that question. Including: -What Does LegalRideshare do? -What type of cases do we handle? -How do I make money after an accident? -Why choose LegalRideshare?
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Docks, Drivers and Dilemma. Scooters get locked, 2 billion trips through Uber and the worker-hero dilemma. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 2/6/23Scooters get locked up. Bloomberg reported:
This week, Lyft announced that it is piloting a more structural solution: a dock that can park both rented bikes and scooters. Two prototypes of the Pillar model are already on the ground in San Francisco, where Lyft is headquartered, in anticipation of a future rollout in its other scooter-share markets, like Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, DC.
Last May, Lyft started piloting an earlier prototype of the docks in Chicago through the city's Divvy program, to address the city's concerns with sidewalk clutter. Since the docks rolled out, Chicago has seen ridership across both modes go up, says Caroline Samponaro, Lyft's head of transit and micromobility policy, with the majority of rides starting and stopping at stations.
TUESDAY 2/7/23Need a ride across state lines? Hitch may be the answer. Click On Detroit added:
Based in Austin, the company currently provides service primarily in Florida and Texas.
People can book rides through an app on a phone, or on its website, where it says it offers spacious vehicles and flexible departure times.
The company said on the website that it wants to be an alternative to train and bus rides between states.
For those interested in job opportunities, the company says on its website that there is a chance to earn $21 an hour or more on every drive.
WEDNESDAY 2/8/23According to Forbes, the gig economy was inevitable and here to stay. They added:
This 2022 article holds that, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, 36 percent of U.S. workers could be classified as freelancers or independent workers, and that at its current rate of expansion, more than half of the workforce will be part of the U.S. gig economy by 2027.
This is not a passing fancy. Among the gig workers we studied (our criteria for including them was that they make at least 60 percent of their living through freelance work and are neither retired nor students), 69 percent saw themselves working in the gig economy for the foreseeable future. And going back to traditional salaried employment? Fewer than one in ten of the people we surveyed expressed a desire to leave the gig economy in favor of a “steady” job.
As a point of comparison, current data suggests that only 6.2 percent of the U.K. population — a proportion one-sixth as large as the U.S. gig workforce's — counts itself as self-employed.
The lack of social, health and financial guarantees available to salaried workers is certainly an issue, but it clearly isn't a deal-breaker for most gig workers.
THURSDAY 2/9/23Uber reached record revenue last year. Gizmodo reported:
Uber announced it reached a record revenue last year, overcoming the economic downturn many companies have faced in recent months. The company released its report announcing the results from its fourth quarter and for all of 2022, saying its revenue grew by 49% between 2021 and last year.
In the last quarter of 2022, Uber reached 131 million consumers and carried out 2.1 billion trips, up from 1.7 billion trips from the year prior. The company also said it launched a single cross-platform membership program called Uber One in five countries last year, including Chile, France, Japan, Spain, and Taiwan, making the program available in a total of 12 countries.
FRIDAY 2/10/23Instacart shoppers were once hailed as heroes. But did that backfire? RetailWire explains:
Grocery delivery workers were hailed as heroes during the pandemic. However, Instacart's experience shows how the sudden moralization of work can backfire, according to a university study.
The study, led by Wharton professor Lindsey Cameron, found that, rather than unifying low-wage workers, a narrative that is pushed by the public and a company can polarize and isolate workers, especially those such as gig workers who lack the cohesive social structure that comes with being in a physical office with co-workers.
The study found there is a psychological “balancing act” between the schedule flexibility and autonomy offered by gig work and its dehumanizing technology, inconsistent wages and potentially poor working conditions. Sudden moralization adds another dimension to that self-narrative, which workers respond to differently.
The Skippers: These Instagram shoppers readily embraced the hero narrative, but didn't go the extra mile for customers because their normal duties and exposure risk were enough to make them feel morally credentialed. While generally viewing Instacart positively, no Skippers were still active on the Instacart app a year into the “new normal” of the pandemic largely because they weren't economically dependent on gig work for survival.
The Stallers: Stallers shrugged off the hero label, viewing their work as transactional and necessary to their livelihood. They saw Instacart as exploitative and manipulative, with many mocking its “Household Heroes” marketing campaign. Still, Stallers stayed on the platform beyond the worst of the pandemic as the pay met their needs.
The Strugglers: Strugglers wrestled with the hero label and needed to reconcile the banal task of grocery shopping with the idea that they were doing morally credentialed work.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Colorado, Deactivations, and EVs.Lawmakers join drivers, IDG fights deactivations and Uber teams up with car makers. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Monday 1/16/23Colorado drivers are teaming up with lawmakers to fight for better working conditions. The Denver Post reported:
Ride-share and delivery drivers in Colorado and across the nation appear to be nearing a breaking point. A recent study found Uber, Lyft and DoorDash drivers in the state made just $5.49 per hour after expenses — one-third of Denver's minimum wage.
Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat, in November won a seat in the House of Representatives, marking the first time, she said, that a gig app driver was elected to the state legislature. A member of Colorado Independent Drivers United — a union representing taxi, rideshare and delivery drivers — Vigil said it's time for Colorado to rethink how these tech companies are regulated.
Colorado Independent Drivers United has a set of demands from the tech companies and Colorado regulators: A maximum take-rate of 25% out of drivers' fares, a $2 gas surcharge per ride and an end to what they call discriminatory deactivations.
TUESDAY 1/17/23Hertz and Uber drop 25,000 EVs in Europe. Electrek reported:
Hertz and Uber announced today that they are expanding their partnership to electrify their fleets, and they are deploying 25,000 electric cars in Europe.
Now Hertz has confirmed that nearly 50,000 Uber drivers have rented a Tesla through this program.
The deal should significantly increase the number of electric vehicles on Uber's ridesharing fleet across Europe and bring them closer to their goal of only operating with electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
WEDNESDAY 1/18/23A proposed ordnance in Chicago may give deactivated drivers a second chance. Chicago Sun Times reported:
Drivers who work for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing and food delivery apps would be guaranteed the right to appeal before being stripped of their livelihoods under a proposal championed by retiring Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th), chairman of the City Council's Committee on Workforce Development, at the behest of the Independent Drivers Guild of Illinois.
The proposed ordinance calls for creating a so-called “Driver Resource Center” to give drivers a forum to present their side of the story. If the “Deactivation Appeals Panel” rules a false accusation was made, deactivated drivers would be compensated for their lost wages plus 9% interest.
Sanchez said he has met more than 200 deactivated drivers over the last year who claim to have been stripped of their livelihoods after similar phony claims for bad behavior.
THURSDAY 1/19/23Uber drivers in Tanzania got some unfortunate news. TechCrunch reported:
Barely a year after Tanzania capped the commissions that e-hailing firms like Uber and Bolt charge their partners at 15%, the authority in charge has backtracked on the order, taking away drivers' prospects of increased earnings.
The fee was increased to 25% effective last Sunday after the Land and Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) issued a notice on December 30, which superseded the initial direction of March last year. Latra sets and approves fares for all operators, including those in the ride-hailing sector.
Uber and its main rival in Europe and Africa, Bolt, halted some of their services in April last year claiming that reducing the commission on partners would dent their earnings. However, the reduced fee meant increased incomes for drivers, who have in the past, like their counterparts in Kenya, protested poor earnings from the apps.
FRIDAY 1/20/23Uber teams up with car makers to design rideshare-friendly EVs. Engadget reported:
Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi told guests at a Wall Street Journal event that his firm is now teaming up with car manufacturers to design EVs with ridesharing and deliveries in mind. Rideshare cars will ideally have lower top speeds to reduce costs, as well as passenger seats that face each other to promote conversations. Delivery vehicles, meanwhile, might have two or three wheels (to help navigate city streets) but loads of trunk space.
Khosrowshahi didn't say which automakers were involved, or provide a timeline for when optimized EVs might be ready. Uber said in 2021 that it was partnering with Arrival on custom electric taxis, but that was before the startup scrapped its automotive projects in favor of vans.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Tesla, Minneapolis, and Instacart.A glitch gone wrong, city council joins drivers and Instacart pays up. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 1/9/23A part-time Instacart shopper details the ups and down of the job. Scary Mommy adds:
I learned a lot during those first few “batches” or trips. For instance, on my second attempt at grabbing groceries, I didn't stop to look at what was being ordered — nor did I consider that I should.
Fresh out of a battle with bronchitis, imagine my horror when that $18 “batch” of 24 items included two flats of water, multiple twelve packs of pop, and a giant jug of laundry detergent. OK, so the cart was heavy. It gets worse. They lived in a second-floor condo. If they hadn't been elderly and clearly struggling with their health, too, I might have left the groceries by the security door and bid them good luck. I heaved them up the stairs with a smile, though… and then collapsed into my car to pant and cough.
TUESDAY 1/10/23Tesla's self-driving featured caused a major accident in San Francisco. The Intercept reported:
HIGHWAY SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE from Thanksgiving Day shows a Tesla Model S vehicle changing lanes and then abruptly braking in the far-left lane of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, resulting in an eight-vehicle crash. The crash injured nine people, including a 2-year-old child, and blocked traffic on the bridge for over an hour.
The driver told police that he had been using Tesla's new “Full Self-Driving” feature, the report notes, before the Tesla's “left signal activated” and its “brakes activated,” and it moved into the left lane, “slowing to a stop directly in [the second vehicle's] path of travel.”
Just hours before the crash, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had triumphantly announced that Tesla's “Full Self-Driving” capability was available in North America, congratulating Tesla employees on a “major milestone.” By the end of last year, Tesla had rolled out the feature to over 285,000 people in North America, according to the company.
WEDNESDAY 1/11/23Drivers continue to struggle to make ends meet. The New York Times reported:
Uber and Lyft drivers now earn less in fares and tips than taxi drivers, according to new data from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates both groups. During the month of September, Uber and Lyft drivers earned an average total of $5,046, including $277 in tips, while those in taxis earned $5,844, including $865 in tips.
Drivers have increasingly battled with Uber, which sued the taxi commission to block a raise for Uber and Lyft drivers in December. Uber argued the raise could cost the company an additional $21 million to $23 million per month, and that it could force it to raise passenger fares by 10 percent.
Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant, said the app services make money by charging passengers as much as they can — and paying drivers as little as possible. “The point of the business is to squeeze both the driver and passenger as much as possible because the companies make more money,” he said.
THURSDAY 1/12/23The Minnesota city council is joining forces with Uber and Lyft drivers. Star Tribune reported:
Standing alongside dozens of organized Uber and Lyft drivers, a group of council members Thursday pledged to push for what they billed as “some of the strongest protections for ride-share workers in the country.”
The council members offered few details but said they'll begin drafting an ordinance that would provide baseline requirements for drivers' wages and benefits, including unemployment insurance and medical or workers compensation protections.
Meanwhile, a separate effort has been more quietly underway behind the scenes in City Hall for months, with some council members and city staff exploring how to regulate ride-share companies, also known as “transportation network companies,” more like taxi operations, said Council Member Andrew Johnson.
FRIDAY 1/13/23Instacart pays up. Engadget explains:
Instacart will pay workers $5.1 million as part of a settlement after it allegedly failed to provide some benefits, as The San Francisco Chronicle reports. The company, which has not admitted to wrongdoing, will pay an additional $150,000 to cover the city's legal costs and pay for a settlement administrator to distribute the funds.
People who worked as independent contractors for Instacart in the city between February 2017 and December 2020 are eligible for payments based on how many hours they worked. San Francisco estimates that between 6,000 and 7,000 people are affected by the settlement. The city and Instacart previously reached a similar settlement that covered an earlier time period. San Francisco has settled a benefits-related case with DoorDash too.
After December 15th, 2020, Instacart workers were subject to Proposition 22, which afforded them some benefits without the company having to define them as employees. An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in 2021 that the measure was unconstitutional, but it remains in force while Instacart, DoorDash, Uber, Lyft and other gig companies who bankrolled Prop 22 appeal the decision.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare Podcast: Habits, Strikes and Hikes.A woman's “habit” to stay safe, drivers strike in New York and a pay hike is blocked. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 1/2/23After multiple flight delays, a couple takes a $600 Uber ride home. NBC12 reported:
The Kinneys eventually arrived to Las Vegas late, their plane was gone, there were too many winter storms to drive a rental car, and they changed two flights already before finally finding one to St. Louis.
“My wife casually joked with the Uber driver how it would be kind of funny if you could drive us to Omaha in the morning and there was a pause, and then the Uber driver said, ‘Yeah, I'll do that,'” Kinney said.
Kinney says it ended up costing them nearly $600, but they got home and left with some pretty good conversation too.
TUESDAY 1/3/23A woman's “habit” during Uber rides has gone viral online. Yahoo! news reported:
Brenna, from the US, revealed in a recent TikTok video that whenever she is in a ride-share vehicle, she always leaves strands of hair and fingerprints on the windows.
The footage shows her dropping a blonde hair on the floor while sitting in the backseat of a car before pressing her fingers on the window.
More than 12,000 people have flooded the video — which has been viewed almost 28 million times — with comments, many of which deemed Brenna's habit “hella smart”.
“This is terrifying and clever at the same time,” one woman wrote, while another said it was a “shame” women felt like they had to do things like this “to stay safe”.
WEDNESDAY 1/4/23Recession fears could bring thousands of new gig workers. MarketWatch reported:
They said there's a potential of 450,000 new drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, 2.05% and Lyft Inc. LYFT, 2.86%, and possibly 600,000 new couriers for DoorDash Inc. DASH, 0.97% and Uber.
But as more people turn to app-based gig work, it could mean bad news for workers who are already in the gig economy. They will be dealing with inflationary and recessionary pressures, along with increased competition for work, labor experts have said.
THURSDAY 1/5/23Drivers in New York City continued to strike in protest of Uber blocking a pay hike. NBC4 reported:
New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), the union representing the 21,000 or so app-dispatched drivers, along with those behind the wheels of green, black and livery cars in the city, asked passengers to assist in their bid to have raises restored by boycotting Uber until midnight. The group says app drivers, including those working for Uber, had lost about $12 million in raises by New Year's Day because of the judge's temporary restraining order.
Some 80,000 Uber drivers had been slated to get the pre-Christmas pay bump; they would earn 7.4% more per minute and a 24% increase per mile.
In the rideshare company's lawsuit, Uber argued that the authorized pay hike would cost the company nearly $21 million per month. A spokesperson has said the company wants rates to be consistent and transparent.
FRIDAY 1/6/23A NYC judge officially blocked drivers from getting a pay raise. Bloomberg reported:
A judge blocked a rate increase that would have raised pay for ride-share drivers in New York City.
Manhattan state court Justice Arthur Engoron, a former cab driver, issued his decision Friday after a hearing packed with Uber and Lyft drivers. Engoron had previously blocked the rate hike temporarily.
Friday's ruling is a victory for Uber Technologies Inc., which last month sued the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission. Uber claimed the commission used a new and flawed methodology to calculate the rate increase, which it said would result in higher fares for customers and damage the company's reputation.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Strikes, Unions and Models.Drivers fight back, a push for unions and a broken business model. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 12/19/22After Uber blocked a recent pay raise, NYC drivers went to the streets in protest. ABC7 reported:
The protest comes after Uber successfully took legal action to block a scheduled pay raise and fare hike for Uber drivers in the city.
Around 100 drivers headed over the Brooklyn Bridge Monday morning into lower Manhattan demanding action be taken by the company.
A federal judge has temporarily halted a planned 11% pay increase after Uber objected to the raise and fare hikes proposed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Jose Taveras immigrated here from the Dominican Republic. He's been a fulltime driver for 7 years.
This is how I feed my kids,” Taveras said. “This is how my pay my bills and this is how I accomplish my dreams. We want Uber to be successful, a successful company, but we also want Uber to be fair. Play fair.”
TUESDAY 12/20/22Instacart founder is getting sued. Bloomberg reported:
Instacart Inc. cofounder Apoorva Mehta was accused in a lawsuit of using stolen trade secrets to create a healthcare startup that was a copy of an existing company.
Hello Logistics Inc., which operates under the name NextMed, sued Mehta, his business partner Tejasvi Singh, and their company Cloud Health Systems over allegations of misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement and other claims. Both companies run websites promoting weight loss.
Singh, a cofounder of NextMed, collected some of the company's closest held trade secrets under the guise of gathering the information as part of due dilligence for investors, according to the complaint.
Mehta and Singh then used the information to create a company that does business as Sunrise, with a copycat website, according to the complaint. They also lined up vendors and implemented NextMed's highly confidential customer acquisition and other strategies, “in mere weeks,” NextMed claimed in the complaint.
WEDNESDAY 12/21/22Gig workers in Boston revived a push for union rights. WBUR reported:
After an election cycle where ride-hailing and food delivery drivers' rights were originally planned to be on the ballot, drivers for apps such as Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Instacart joined with labor advocate allies to attempt to reinvigorate calls for a union ahead of the new legislative session set to start in two weeks.
Drivers for Uber and Lyft say the percentage of the cost of the trip that ride companies collect from each ride has doubled, or even tripled, in the last few years, taking profits away from drivers.
Another point driving calls for a union is that the app-based companies can terminate a driver's account at any time without cause, advocates said.
Though the question of drivers' employment classification has been an ongoing issue in Massachusetts. A planned ballot question would have codified the workers classification as “independent contractors” this year and there's ongoing litigation from the attorney general's office to make drivers “employees.” Advocates on Wednesday said the question of a union is separate from conversations around gig workers' status.
THURSDAY 12/22/22One Lyft driver exposes how the Lyft business model is broken. Slate reported:
After I dropped her off, the Lyft app revealed my portion of the base fare: $16.52. My passenger added a generous $8.96 tip, for total earnings of $25.48. That made it my most lucrative trip that week. But Lyft raked in much more: $42.48.
After that Saturday night trip, I started asking my passengers how much they'd paid and comparing it to what I'd earned. The results were all over the map. I had two trips where I got more than 80 percent of the total fare, including tips. I had a couple of others where I earned less than 30 percent.
I wrapped up my Lyft driving experiment after a week, having completed 100 rides in 46 hours and earning $1,111. Lyft eventually sent me a report showing that passengers had paid a total of $2,139.73 for these rides, so on average I got just 52 percent of what my passengers paid.
Ever since then, I've been trying to figure out how Lyft could take such a big cut of passenger revenue and still fail to turn a profit — Lyft says that it lost almost a billion dollars in the first nine months of 2022. The more I've looked into it, the more I became convinced that it's going to take major cost-cutting for Lyft to avoid eventual bankruptcy. I was also left asking one question: If after all these years, Lyft and its competitor Uber's disruption of the old taxi model still doesn't make business sense, what was the point?
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
This Week In Rideshare: Crimes, Trucks and Uber.Passengers on guard, self-driving trucks expand and Uber not downsizing. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 11/28/22The Uber-ization of trucking is speeding up. American Journal Of Transportation reported:
There's also a shakeout among the brokers who match trucking companies with loads that need to be shipped. Silicon Valley entered the fray a few years ago and digitized what had been a transaction done with phone calls and paper. Large and established brokers have also bolstered their technology, leaving the 17,000 smaller firms that haven't evolved vulnerable.
“The haves of the technology are going to grow,” Suma said. “The have-nots of the technology will be consumed.”
The automation technology removes labor by providing a computer application for truckers to find freight and accept the price for hauling it. There's still a lot of paperwork used in the industry. But services, including Transflo, are bridging the transition by allowing drivers to scan trip documents at truck-stop kiosks to digitalize the paperwork for fleet operators.
Uber Freight and Convoy have gobbled up market share, but struggled to make a profit. Convoy, which raised $260 million in April led by Baillie Gifford is still investing in its technology and capturing market share, CEO Dan Lewis said in an interview.
TUESDAY 11/29/22Uber and Lyft are transforming cities. Businesswire reported:
On the plus side, the researchers found that TNCs have increased economic growth, employment, and wages for intermittent jobs in U.S. cities.
“However, Uber and Lyft affect different kinds of cities differently, and that is important to understanding their impact,” explains Michalek.
The costs that Uber and Lyft impose on cities are not clear-cut, either. The research reveals that Uber and Lyft can clean the air but clog the streets. Taking an Uber instead of a personal vehicle can reduce air pollution costs by 9 to 13¢, but the extra driving to and from passengers increases costs from congestion, crash risk, and climate change by about 45¢. “You create lower external costs to society when you drive your personal vehicle, on average,” says Michalek.
WEDNESDAY 11/30/22Uber customers are concerned about the lack of driver details after passengers were abducted. CBS news reported:
With no description of the suspect or “vehicle lookout” information available to the public, Uber customers like Murphy say they are constantly on guard.
THURSDAY 12/1/22Uber expands their self-driving trucks in Texas. Reuters reported:
The program will be expanded to the recently launched 600-mile commercial lane between Fort Worth and El Paso in Texas to support customers of logistics business Uber Freight as it ships goods this holiday season, Aurora said on Friday.
Autonomous goods hauling has been seen as the future of logistics as it could increase truck utilization and boost transportation frequency between terminals.
Human truck drivers are not allowed to drive more than 11 hours per day in the Unites States.
FRIDAY 12/2/22Uber sees no sign of weakness. Yahoo! finance reported:
Uber Technologies, Inc (NYSE: UBER) did not look to downsize employee strength, even though competitors slashed staff to deal with an uncertain economic outlook, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
Khosrowshahi was optimistic about the supply of drivers on the platform, despite a protracted shortage that has raised fares and wait times, and said that periods of economic uncertainty typically spur people to seek out side hustles in ride-hailing or food delivery. “Our driver base has increased substantially,” he said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Driverless goes EV, a Lyft plan flops and Amazon debuts Sparrow. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 11/7/22One driver is putting in the hours to eventually become a day trader. Fast Company interviewed the driver who said:
If you're willing to do eight hours or 12 hour days, that's really what pays off. If you do less than eight hours a day, I always feel like my dollars per hour is significantly less, unless there's a fringe case where I'm finishing up a promotion or something like that.
Something I would absolutely recommend for every driver is a sleep tracking app. If you're going to work eight hours, you better be sleeping eight hours. If you're trying to ever do a 12-hour, like a full day before you're forced offline, you'll definitely want to sleep eight hours. Because nothing is worse than, “Oh, I slept five hours and they're sending me to the other side of the state and now I've got to sleep in my car.”
TUESDAY 11/8/22Credit: Uber Eats/NuroUber Eats deliveries are going totally driverless and EV. Intelligent Living added:
Uber Eats is taking automated food deliveries further by eliminating the driver.
Uber Eats driverless deliveries are set to begin this fall in Mountain View, California, and Houston, Texas. Uber and Nuro say they have plans for expansion in the Bay Area. We should expect to see deliveries in Arizona someday, as it is the third state that permits Nuro's autonomous EVs to operate. However, both companies still need to confirm that.
WEDNESDAY 11/9/22Uber gets the upper hand in a U.S. appeals court. Reuters explains:
Two of the three judges on a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia seemed skeptical of claims by a group of Uber drivers that crossing state lines was a central part of their job.
The question of whether the exemption applies to Uber and other gig drivers is crucial, because it determines whether they can bring large-scale class action lawsuits or must individually arbitrate legal claims, which is often impractical because of the small sums at stake in individual cases.
The drivers are seeking to revive a lawsuit claiming they were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees and are owed overtime pay and reimbursements for work-related expenses.
THURSDAY 11/10/22Lyft's plan to fund electric cars gets sacked. TechCrunch reported:
California voters shot down a plan to make electric vehicles more affordable for some residents, dealing a blow to Lyft and the EV industry alike.
Proposition 30 would have taxed residents making more than $2 million a year to subsidize electric cars and public charging stations as well as funded wildfire prevention programs. Even with just 41% of the votes tallied so far, the defeat was clear. As of Wednesday afternoon, some 59% of voters rejected the proposition.
It would have raised tens of billions of dollars to push down the price of electric cars for individuals, including drivers for ride apps like Lyft and Uber. Both companies have committed to going electric by 2030, and this measure could have helped them hit their targets.
FRIDAY 11/11/22Amazon debuts Sparrow, while reassuring workers they're not being replaced. TechCrunch added:
Working with our employees, Sparrow will take on repetitive tasks, enabling our employees to focus their time and energy on other things, while also advancing safety.
The company is, of course, quick to point out that Sparrow (along with its other robots) is designed to replace repetitive tasks — and, perhaps, save a few human backs in the process. It has understandably become common practice to get out ahead of the standard criticism of companies automating away jobs, but pointing out that these systems:
- Have the ability to actually create more jobs in the long run and
- Those are “better” jobs than the standard warehouse fare.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
Uber annoys riders, a bombshell by a former employee and Lyft blames drivers. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.
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