Decision means drivers will be entitled to basic rights such as paid holidays, say lawyers
The UK supreme court has dismissed Uber’s appeal against a landmark employment tribunal ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays.
Six justices handed down a unanimous decision backing the October 2016 employment tribunal ruling that could affect millions of workers in the gig economy.
Continue reading...Anthony Levandowski’s pardon had the support of billionaire Peter Thiel, who donated to Trump’s 2016 campaign
In his final hours of office, Donald Trump pardoned a former Google engineer who was convicted of stealing trade secrets from the company before taking up a new role with competitor Uber.
Continue reading...As Uber parks its plans for robotaxis, experts admit the autonomous vehicle challenge is bigger than anticipated
By 2021, according to various Silicon Valley luminaries, bandwagoning politicians and leading cab firms in recent years, self-driving cars would have long been crossing the US, started filing along Britain’s motorways and be all set to provide robotaxis in London.
1 January has not, however, brought a driverless revolution. Indeed in the last weeks of 2020 Uber, one of the biggest players and supposed beneficiaries, decided to park its plans for self-driving taxis, selling off its autonomous division to Aurora in a deal worth about $4bn (£3bn) – roughly half what it was valued at in 2019.
Continue reading...Preliminary injunction in California follows state’s lawsuit against companies over new labor law
A California judge has issued a preliminary injunction that would block Uber and Lyft from classifying their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.
The move on Monday came in response to a May lawsuit filed by the state of California against the companies, which alleged they are misclassifying their drivers under the state’s new labor law.
Continue reading...Three Uber drivers who believe they caught coronavirus from passengers before the UK lockdown started share their experiences of the illness, pay tribute to drivers who have died, and call for better safety standards for drivers in London
Continue reading...To supporters, they are the solution to congestion. To critics, they’re just billionaires’ toys. So are they the answer to urban travel?
It’s right up there with meal pills, jetpacks, robot butlers and colonies on Mars. Since at least 1962, when the TV cartoon characters George, Jane, Elroy and Judy Jetson first took to the skies, flying cars have been a staple of speculative visions of the future. Designs for dozens of small, affordable, personal flying machines were unveiled in the latter half of the 20th century. Few became airborne and none took commercial flight.
Now, however, a form of flying car is set to escape the clutches of eccentrics and the confines of science fiction. A handful of well-funded startups, some backed by major aviation and car companies, have carried out test flights of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Piloted air taxi and shuttle services are expected before 2025. Uber says it expects to be operating aircraft without pilots by around 2030.
Continue reading...Aerial ridesharing would allow for a pilot and three passengers at speeds of up to 180mph
Uber has unveiled plans for a flying taxi at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The ride-sharing company on Tuesday showed off a full-size mock-up of the electric plane concept vehicle created with South Korean carmaker Hyundai, as it seeks to fly above traffic rather than add to it.
Uber wants to offer aerial ridesharing, allowing a pilot and three passengers to take city trips of up to 60 miles at a speed of up to 180mph. Resembling a winged helicopter and featuring four propellers, Uber and Hyundai joined forces to design a personal air vehicle, or PAV, which can take off and land vertically.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Survey reveals almost all are paid per delivery and a quarter of riders have been in an accident
Food delivery bike couriers are being underpaid by up to $322 a week compared with minimum rates of pay and superannuation in the transport award, according to new union statistics.
The Young Workers Centre – an initiative of the Victoria Trades Hall Council – conducted a survey of more than 240 riders, revealing most are engaged on a “take-it-or-leave-it” basis and almost all are paid per delivery, with no minimum rates of pay.
Continue reading...Dara Khosrowshahi scrambles after saying Saudi Arabia’s murder of dissident was a ‘mistake’ similar to self-driving car accident
Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, has attempted to limit the damage after calling the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi “a mistake” similar to a fatal accident that occurred during tests of his company’s self-driving car.
Related: The Killing in the Consulate by Jonathan Rugman review – a dark fable of unaccountable power
Continue reading...Transport for London again rejects ride-hailing firm’s application for a full licence
Uber’s application to renew its private hire operating licence in London has been rebuffed again by regulators.
Transport for London has instead given the ride-hailing firm only a two-month extension to its licence, which is due to expire on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...Uber and Lyft drivers aren’t the only ones getting protections – but journalists and musicians have raised concern
Groundbreaking legislation passed by California lawmakers on Wednesday has been lauded for its potential to transform the way tech companies such as Uber and Lyft treat their drivers – but those aren’t the only workers who stand to benefit.
The bill, known as AB5, will go into effect in January 2020. It sets a three-part standard for determining whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors, requiring that (a) they are free from the company’s control, (b) they are doing work that isn’t central to the company’s business and (c) they have an independent business in that industry.
This means a hugely diverse range of professions – from cable installers to exotic dancers to writers – will be affected by the bill.
Law would make it more difficult for firms such as Uber to deny workers are employees
Lawmakers in California have passed a landmark bill that would make it much more difficult for companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees.
The bill, which paves the way for workers in the so-called gig economy to get holiday and sick pay, has garnered attention across the US and beyond, largely owing to the size of California’s workforce. Several Democratic presidential candidates have supported the measure, including the US senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California.
Continue reading...Ridership is high and there’s plenty of work for drivers, but success has come at a cost to this Ontario town
Photographs by Cole Burston
When Daniel Arrega, 19, heads to work at a mall in Innisfil, he has few options for his commute. Walking along the highway would take nearly three hours. A taxi is faster but expensive.
So he takes the town’s public transit: Uber.
Continue reading...Failure to tip, a refusal to chat … even where you sit could influence how drivers rate you and under a new policy could see you banned
Will your Uber rating be docked if youdon’t tip? What side of the car should you sit on? Small talk or silence?
Since Uber first began to allow users to check their ratings on the app in 2017, riders have harbored growing anxiety about how many stars their behavior in the back seat will earn them.
Continue reading...Ride-hailing company hopes to expand to other London boroughs if local trial goes well
Uber is to launch its electric bike hire scheme in the UK, trialling Jump bikes in London through its app.
The global ride-hailing firm will be battling with Lime for the e-bike market, after the retreat of dockless bicycle firms from the UK.
Continue reading...Stock traded considerably lower than $100bn the ride-hailing app had hoped to achieve
Uber’s hopes of a surge in the price of its shares have fallen flat, as investors gave the taxi-hailing app’s eagerly anticipated stock market float a frosty reception by sending the shares below their launch price.
Uber put a price of $45 on its shares valuing the company at $80bn (£61.4bn) – well below the $100bn it had once hoped to achieve – amid jitters among investors at the lacklustre performance of shares in rival Lyft since its recent float.
Continue reading...Jason Dalton admitted that he shot eight people at three locations in and around Kalamazoo in 2016
An Uber driver charged with killing six strangers in between picking up passengers pleaded guilty to murder in Michigan on Monday, just before attorneys were set to interview jurors for his trial.
Jason Dalton’s surprise move came more than three years after the shootings, which occurred over the course of a few hours in and around Kalamazoo, Michigan.
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