The emergence of app-based ride-sharing platforms like Uber and Lyft transformed the way people in cities get around — and not always for the better. It nearly decimated the taxi industry while offering riders a more seamless way to travel. But it also choked many cities with car traffic and disrupted labor with the popularization of gig work. The Verge covers all the news and analysis related to ride-sharing as well as what the future holds for this mode of transportation.
The company is working with automakers to design its own custom-built electric vehicles for ridehailing and delivery, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told The Wall Street Journal. That means lower top speeds and bench seats for passengers to face each other for ridehailing, and smaller footprint two- and three-wheelers with cargo space for delivery. Which automakers though? Khosrowshahi wouldn’t say.
An investigation from The Markup found that Uber is slow to respond to law enforcement requests, leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks.
California voters rejected Prop 30, which would have increased taxes on people making over $2 million a year to subsidize electric vehicle purchases for low-income residents, among other climate change fighting measures. Opponents claimed the measure would have been a huge windfall for Lyft, even though it wasn’t really clear how. It’s a weird result, considering the state’s voters handed Lyft (and Uber) a giant win by approving Prop 22 just two years ago. Why so fickle, California?
For anyone hoping to snag a job at their favorite pink-hued ride-hailing company, I’ve got some bad news: Lyft said it won’t be bringing on any new employees through the end of the year, citing economic instability. No lay-offs are being planned at this time, but the company has been trying to cut costs since this past spring. Maybe Uber is still hiring? (Probably not.)
It sounds like the hacker got access to someone’s Slack account, and then some of Uber’s other internal systems. Lots of details still unknown, but there are some unverified screenshots floating around Twitter that make it sound like the hacker got a lot of access and potentially a lot of data. Uber said it’s working with law enforcement to investigate.
