Articles about Uber

Volkswagen is making a serious push into the world of autonomous vehicles, and it is teaming up with Uber to help drive that effort forward. The two companies have announced a partnership that will put Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz AD vans (fully autonomous, all-electric versions of its iconic Microbus) on American streets as robotaxis. The rollout will begin in Los Angeles, with testing set to start later this year and commercial service planned for 2026.

While the plan is for these vehicles to operate without drivers, don’t worry -- there will still be human operators on board during the early phases of testing and launch. This approach is designed to help fine-tune the technology and ensure rider safety while waiting on necessary regulatory approvals.

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Digital transformation initiatives have been a top priority for several years in most companies. However, while such programs are considered a necessity for the long-term survival of most businesses, they haven’t always been prioritized or given the resources they deserve. 

That all changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, according to analyst Gartner, customers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to COVID-19 and all industries are experiencing widespread digitization. In turn, this is accelerating the adoption of thousands of new APIs. That’s because the drive to make services digital is no longer a nice to have but business critical. Even post COVID, with some businesses opting for a hybrid work environment, we are seeing that acceleration continue. Put simply, as they race to catch up, organizations are digitizing and innovating faster than ever before.

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Uber is working with law enforcement after it became the latest company to fall victim to a cyber attack. Hackers were able to breach its internal systems and gain access to a range of data including emails, vulnerability reports, its HackerOne bug bounty program and more.

The attackers were also able to access Uber's Slack server, going as far as posting messaging to it. At the moment, it is not clear whether customer data has been exposed in the attack which seems to have come as the result of extracting passwords from an employee via social engineering.

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The modern data stack (MDS) is foundational for digital disruptors. Consider Netflix. Netflix pioneered a new business model around video as a service, but much of their success is built upon real-time streaming data.

They’re using analytics to push highly relevant recommendations to their viewers. They’re monitoring real-time data to maintain constant visibility to network performance. They’re synchronizing their database of movies and shows with Elasticsearch to enable users to quickly and easily find what they’re looking for.

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Airbnb. Uber. Spotify. To join the big fish in the disruptive digital shark tank you need to get beyond siloed sales and marketing approaches. You have to move ahead fast -- with input from your whole organization -- or die.

Since the early 2010s, growth hacking culture has developed as the way to achieve this, pulling together multiple talents -- product managers, data analysts, programmers, creatives, and yes, marketers -- to build a lean, mean, iterative machine that delivers the swift sustainable growth you need to stay alive and beat the competition.

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So far this century, one tech startup after another has reshaped the way that we live. Facebook transformed social interaction. Uber changed how we get around. Tinder changed how we date. While these companies have been highly forward-thinking, they have also persistently struggled to solve crucial challenges regarding background checks and user safety.

2019 brought many of these issues into the limelight. Here are four of the most surprising things we learned about startups and sexual offenses in 2019.

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Ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft are reshaping the transportation industry. In the past few years, these businesses have changed the way people explore cities, navigate to new travel destinations, and find their way home after a night at the bar.

While many consumers sing the praises of Uber and Lyft, there is one area in which these businesses have frequently courted controversy: background checks.

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Uber has agreed to a settlement with Google's self-driving technology unit, Waymo, over claims that that the company stole trade secrets during the acquisition of Otto. Google's parent company, Alphabet, sued Uber a year ago, and now a payment of $245 million has been agreed.

The financial settlement to be received by Waymo includes 0.34 percent of Uber's equity based on a valuation of $72 billion. Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, expressed "regret" about the matter, and said he wanted to correct "mistakes of the past."

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Walk around any major city and you quickly lose the will to continue. Thanks to ride-hailing apps, you can now grab your smartphone and simply locate a ride from where you’re standing, without having to worry about public transport.

Ride-hailing apps have certainly revolutionized how we navigate a city. Whilst between meetings in London recently, it dawned on me that I had minutes to get to my next meeting. It would take longer to walk to the nearest Underground station. Solution? Grab my smartphone, hail a local taxi and arrived in time for my next meeting.

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The news that ride hailing service Uber has suffered, and covered up, a major hack means that millions of people could unknowingly have had their data put at risk.

Data security company Egress Software Technologies ran a flash survey of 500 UK adults this morning to find their reactions to the story.

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The concept of taking a cab is hardly new. Any person in a major city can hold out their arm and hail a ride. In smaller communities, you simply call a cab company and schedule a car. You can pay cash for the trip and even be anonymous -- the driver doesn't have to know who you are. No private information to get stolen. Easy peasy.

But OK, many consumers got "app fever" over the last decade, and as a result Uber was born. If you aren't familiar, it is a ride-sharing service where you summon a car using your smartphone. Instead of professional drivers, however, you are transported by amateurs. Even worse, you can only pay digitally -- no privacy. The company has a horrible overall track record too -- negative workplace culture, sexual harassment, and a lack of respect for user privacy. Today, you can add another scandal to the list, as Uber pulls yet another boner. You see, last year -- in 2016 -- the company experienced a data breach and failed to disclose it -- until today, that is. Sigh. Maybe we should all go back to taking yellow cabs...

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Transport for London (TfL) has said that Uber is not "fit and proper" to operate in the capital, and has rejected the company's application for a new license.

Following the rejection, Uber has 21 days to appeal against the decision. The company's current license expires on September 30, but it will be able to continue to operate until the end of the appeal process.

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If you’re anything like us, you land after a long plane journey, slightly shattered and attempting to adjust to your new time zone then once you’ve finally left passport control and picked up your bags, you simply want to grab a taxi and get to your hotel as quickly as possible.

To achieve this, many of course choose to book an Uber. When the process works smoothly, everything is fine. But, sadly, Uber drivers aren’t always offered the same privileges as regular taxis, so you have to somehow navigate your way to a pickup location. To do this, a phone call from the driver is often required.

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Look, it isn't exactly a pleasant topic, but we all need to use the potty (toilet, loo, etc.). As much as we humans want to think we are somehow above the rest of the animals on Earth, we have to pee and poop just like bears, dogs, and other creatures. It is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, there is even a very popular children's book called "Everybody Poops."

Believe it or not, it is not easy to go to the bathroom in NYC. Many store restrooms have keypads, requiring you to buy something to get the access code on a receipt. Don't have any money? Tough luck! I have seen people rooting through garbage cans for receipts just to find a receipt and code. Even when you finally gain access, it isn't always clean -- yuck! Thanks to toilet paper-maker Charmin, there is finally a solution. Called "Van-GO," it is an on-demand mobile toilet service that is sort of like Uber -- but for poop and pee.

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In what is one of the most fundamental changes ever made to Uber's business model, the ride sharing app has begun to roll out an update that will allow users to tip drivers, reversing a policy it had in place from day one as potentially the biggest differentiating factor between it and standard taxicab services.

Indeed, Uber's dominance in the on-demand transportation space was built almost entirely because of its cost effectiveness, with fares often less than half of what you might pay for a traditional taxi. Intentionally precluding the ability to tip your driver was an essential part of that value promise.

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