The LegalRideshare Podcast

Uber leans on OpenAI, China puts the breaks on robotaxis and DoorDash offers relief. LegalRideshare breaks it down. UBER USES OPENAI Uber 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 LICENSES China 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 RELIEF DoorDash 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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 ROBOTAXIS Uber 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 AI DoorDash 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 DEBATE Uber 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 DRIVERS Uber 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 DRONES Grubhub 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 DEBATE A 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: [email protected] 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 Liability The 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 Robotaxi If 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 WORKERS Waymo 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 KILLED New 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 CHECKS Uber 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 ROBOTAXIS Uber 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 REQUIREMENTS Florida 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 UBER An 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: [email protected] ---------- 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: [email protected] ------ 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 DISCRIMINATION Male 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 HIGHWAYS Waymo 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 RIDE Uber 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 TAXIS Boston 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 SF Uber 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 REWARDS Lyft 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 EV Uber 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 UBER After 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 MONEY Uber 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 UNIONIZE Drivers 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 LOBBYISTS Waymo 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 FEATURE Lyft 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. .:: LEGALRIDESHARE WEBSITE ::.https://www.legalrideshare.com/ .:: SOCIAL MEDIA ::.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@legalrideshareFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LegalRideshareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/legalrideshare/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@legalrideshareTwitter (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.

Tesla's FSD is a mess, thoughts on Uber's pilot program and Waymo goes B2B. LegalRideshare breaks it down. TESLA'S FSD TROUBLES Press enter or click to view image in full size People 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 SERVICE Uber 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 SERVICE Waymo 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 WAYMO Tourists 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 SFO Press enter or click to view image in full size Waymo 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 TIPS Press enter or click to view image in full size Lyft 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 DENVER Photo Credit: Waymo Waymo 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 ATLANTA Photo Credit: Lyft Lyft 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 DISCRIMINATION The 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 UNION Drivers 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 RIDES A 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 CASH Riders 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 ASSAULTED A 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 FAIL Tesla'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 SETTLEMENT Uber 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 DRIVERS Riders 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 TESLA Waymo 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 EDGE Immigrant 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 SHUTTLE Zoom image will be displayed Credit: Lyft Lyft 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 COURT Zoom image will be displayed Uber 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 RULES Zoom image will be displayed Uber 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 ROBBED Uber 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 2026 Uber 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/MYSTRO Uber 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 HERE Robots 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 NYC Waymo 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 ACCOUNTS Waymo 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 DRIVERS Uber'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 MISHAPS Telsa'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 KALANICK Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters Travis 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 BUS Uber 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 Ordinance A 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 EXPENSIVE Waymos 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 RIDES Lyft 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-TESLA Elon 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 OVERCHARGING Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago After 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 VEHICLES Waymo 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 AMERICA GigU, 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 BEHIND Tesla'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 UBER Chicago 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 DRIVERS Robotaxis 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 STOPPED Tesla'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 TAXIS Lyft 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 CHEAPER A 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 RIDERS Uber 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 FTC Uber 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 COLORADO Uber 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 AVS Credit: Volkswagen Uber 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 DENMARK Two 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 BET Tesla'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 ACCOUNTS Drivers 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 UNIONIZE Drivers 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 ADS Your 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 DRIVERS What 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 DEACTIVATIONS Deactivations 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 AUSTIN Cybercabs 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 RIDES A 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 AIRPORT Credit: Waymo Waymo 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 CRASH An 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 LIFTED Drivers 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 RIDERS Lyft 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 VALLEY Waymo 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 UBER A 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 AIRPORT Drivers 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 ROBBED A 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 AGREEMENT Uber 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 SAFETY Drivers 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 AVS How 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 CA Tesla 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 APP Drivers 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 INDIA Uber 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 2024 Gig 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 & POTHOLES Waymos 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 2026 Lyft 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 RIDERS Massachusetts 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 EASIER Uber 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. WAGE Driver 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 AUSTIN Uber 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 CITIES Waymo 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 JUNE Tesla 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 FTC Uber 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 INSURANCE NYC 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 NIGHTMARE The 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 AI Uber'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 DOUBTS Elon 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 COSTS An 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 SAFETY PA 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 ROBOTAXIS Robotaxis 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 SETTLEMENT Drivers 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 LOCKOUTS NYC 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.