Uber telah bersetuju untuk membayar hampir $272 juta (RM1,284,520 000) untuk membayar pampasan kepada pemandu teksi dan pemandu sewa kereta yang terjejas oleh kemasukan agresifnya ke pasaran Australia. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers mengumumkan bahawa tindakan kelas terhadap Uber, yang dijangka akan dibicarakan di Mahkamah Agung Victoria, akan ditinggalkan selepas syarikat itu bersetuju dengan penyelesaian yang besar.
Penyelesaian ini, yang kelima terbesar dalam sejarah Australia, mewakili kemenangan bagi lebih 8000 pemilik teksi dan kereta sewa serta pemandu yang mengalami kerugian kewangan akibat kemasukan pasaran Uber. Peguam utama Maurice Blackburn, Michael Donelly menyifatkan pergaduhan undang-undang selama lima tahun itu sebagai “memenatkan” dan menekankan bagaimana Uber cuba menafikan pampasan kepada mereka yang terjejas.
Uber has agreed to pay nearly $272 million (RM1,284,520 000) to compensate taxi and hire car drivers affected by its aggressive entry into the Australian market. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers announced that the class action against Uber, expected to go to trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria, would be abandoned after the rideshare company agreed to the substantial settlement.
This settlement, the fifth-largest in Australia’s history, represents a significant victory for more than 8000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers who suffered financial losses due to Uber’s market entry. Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Michael Donelly described the five-year legal battle as “gruelling” and emphasised how Uber had attempted to deny compensation to those affected.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from Uber these days but the latest news surrounding the once successful company here in the country is not a great one. It seems that their operations in London have fallen and their operating license has been stripped (for the second time in two years) on 25 November 2019 after failing several safety and security measures. (more…)
Uber, one of the world’s most recognized ride-hailing service, will be expanding their current offering to greater heights – literally. The recently announced Uber Copter will provide helicopter rides starting 9 July 2019 in New York City from $200-$230 per person (RM830-RM956). (more…)
Volvo has signed a framework agreement with Uber, which will see the ride-sharing company purchase several thousand vehicles between 2019 and 2021. This non-exclusive agreement will enhance the strategic partnership that was announced between the two parties back in August 2016.
These vehicles will be based on Volvo’s fully modular platform that it calls Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). It serves as a base for current and future vehicles from the Swedish automaker. Currently, it underpins cars the like the S90 series and the new XC60 SUV.
Since its scalable, SPA can be used to develop a variety of different Volvos from a compact hatchback to a full-blown SUV. Volvo claims that it is one of the most advanced car architectures in the world, but Volkswagen employ a similar strategy with its own modular platform.
Volvo’s engineers are working closely with those from Uber to jointly develop the XC90 to serve in the ride-sharing service’s car fleet. These base vehicles will be fitted with the necessary safety, redundancy and autonomous-driving technologies that will enable Uber to offer its customers a fully autonomous ride sharing service.
“The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology, and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption,” said Håkan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars. “Our aim is to be the supplier of choice for AD ride-sharing service providers globally. Today’s agreement with Uber is a primary example of that strategic direction.”
Despite this, Volvo isn’t handing over the ‘keys to the kingdom’ to Uber, instead it will be developing its own independent autonomous-car strategy. This will be parallel and unrelated to that of Uber’s, with solid plans of introducing Volvo’s first fully autonomous car in 2021.
Ford has been all over the news these past few weeks and this time it’s no different. The American automaker has teamed up with Lyft, a transportation network company to explore how autonomous vehicles can benefit both parties.
Similar to Uber, Lyft works by connecting drivers to passengers through a mobile app. Those wishing to use the service will need to sign up with Lyft and fill in their details and payment method.
Drivers who wish to drive for Lyft are subjected to stringent security checks including face to face interviews with the company before being approved as a driver. Apart from this, Lyft also limits the number of hours drivers are allowed to operate each day, which does offer passengers the peace of mind of knowing that their driver won’t fall asleep while at the wheel.
Through its partnership with Lyft, Ford will explore the following categories:
How to create a technology platform that it can easily connect with a partner’s platform (such as Lyft’s) to effectively dispatch a self-driving vehicle
Which cities to work with to deliver a self-driving vehicle service based on shared data and information
The kind of infrastructure necessary to service and maintain a fleet of self-driving vehicles to maximise availability to consumers
Ford has been hard at working on research and development of its self-driving technology that includes its Argo AI’s virtual driver system. It is also looking into building the proper infrastructure to allow for better access of this technology by the general public.
Autonomous vehicles are said to be the future of transportation, because once the human element is eliminated from the system, incidents of fatigue related accidents or driver error could be reduced dramatically.
As such, the partnership between Lyft and Ford will involve building a service based around the actual needs and wants of people. They will need to make sure that safety and dependability can be guaranteed in order to convince the general public to trust self-driving technology.
Initially, a joint technology platform will be developed where Ford will deploy human-driven vehicles on Lyft’s network to test the interface and ensure compatibility with Lyft’s app and customer usability.
At the same time, Ford will also connect its self-driving test vehicles to Lyft’s network but they won’t be made available to the latter’s customers. Instead, it will allow the automaker to develop the technology to ensure that it meets the safety requirements and needs of future customers.
According to a statement by the automaker: “The partnership with Lyft will accelerate plans to build a profitable and viable self-driving vehicle business. With Lyft’s network and respected brand experience, Ford expects its ability to scale self-driving vehicles will play a critical role in safely bringing this technology to mainstream consumers.”
Such a partnership isn’t groundbreaking, Lyft’s rival, Uber has partnered with automaker’s like Volvo to test its own version of autonomous transportation. In fact, Uber has been ramping up R&D in this area to push this cutting edge technology to the masses in record time.
Uber has been banned from operating in London after authorities ruled that the ride-hailing service hadn’t complied fully with the rules and regulations. According to an article by Car Throttle, Transport for London (TfL) ruled that Uber’s ‘approach and conduct’ was not satisfactory.
As such, Uber won’t be able to renew its private hire license once the current one expires at the end of this month. That said, the company will have a 21-day grace period during which, it will be able to appeal the decision.
The reason for TfL’s decision is Uber’s less than satisfactory approach of reporting criminal offenses, obtaining medical certificates, how background checks are done and that its software is designed to keep law inforcement from having full access.
This is good news for Landon cab drivers who have, since 2012, railed against Uber for its unconventional approach to public transportation services. Unlike Uber drivers, regular cabbies are subjected to more stringent background checks, health checks and competency certification before being granted a license.
Currently, Uber has about 40,000 drivers who use its service and about 3.5 million users who employ the transportation services of these drivers through the app. Uber will probably make the necessary amendments to its current business practices in order to comply with the relevant regulations, but its going to be a tough road ahead.
TfL isn’t the only governmental body that Uber has rubbed the wrong way, Other agencies around the world as well as those here in Malaysia have been less than welcoming of the service. Apart from this, internal struggles within Uber have hampered progress quite a bit.
That said, Uber has had a positive impact on public transportation, stiff competition between Uber drivers and regular cabbies have made many realise that complacency is no longer something that consumers will tolerate.
