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Waymo raises $5.6 billion to fund Austin and Atlanta expansion

Waymo raises $5.6 billion to fund Austin and Atlanta expansion

Waymo has raised another huge chunk of change from investors. The company that it secured an “oversubscribed investment round” of $5.6 billion in funding, the largest of which came from Google's parent company Alphabet.The company is working with Uber to expand to by the early part of next year. Waymo says it plans to use this latest infusion of capital for the expansions. This latest round brings Waymo’s total capital fundraising to $11.1 billion, with the $5.5 billion it picked up in two earlier rounds in and .Waymo currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix with a curbside…
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Uber is reportedly exploring an Expedia takeover

Uber is reportedly exploring an Expedia takeover

Uber is reportedly exploring the idea of purchasing Expedia, one of the largest travel booking companies in the world, according to the Financial Times. Expedia, which is valued at $20 billion and which reported its highest-ever annual revenue in 2023, will be the company's biggest acquisition, if the deal does indeed push through. The Times says it's very early days, however, and Uber hasn't even made a formal offer for the travel company yet. It's still in the process of studying the implications of acquiring Expedia and has, over the past months, worked with advisers to figure out whether the…
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Protesters Say Uber and Lyft Are Still Failing Their Blind Passengers

Protesters Say Uber and Lyft Are Still Failing Their Blind Passengers

Michelle Barlak, public relations manager for The Seeing Eye, which provides guide dogs for people with visual impairments, tells WIRED that the organization has received “frequent and increasing reports of rideshare access denials from Seeing Eye dog handlers.” A survey by the nonprofit Guide Dogs for the Blind found 83 percent of members said they had been denied rides.Both Uber and Lyft offer in-app options for people to specify that they’re traveling with a pet, which usually involves paying slightly more. But since guide dogs aren’t pets, people with visual impairments cannot be required to use this option.A Lyft spokesperson…
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Uber Eats will now let users create and share lists of their favorite meals

Uber Eats will now let users create and share lists of their favorite meals

Uber Eats is adding a social element to ordering delivery tacos in the form of curated lists. Garden variety users can whip up one of these lists on the Account tab, pulling menu items from preferred local haunts.All lists are shareable by default, so users can send them to friends and family. I don’t want other people to know the shameful food I gorge while endlessly watching episodes of Frasier, but maybe that’s just me.This could actually prove useful for certain scenarios, such as when you’re sick in bed and want someone else to handle takeout. Just point friends and…
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Uber teams with Avride to offer self-driving vehicles for rides and food deliveries

Uber teams with Avride to offer self-driving vehicles for rides and food deliveries

Uber has entered a new deal to offer customers in select cities an option for self-driving vehicles. The partnership is with Avride, which used to be the self-driving unit for Russian conglomerate .The multi-year deal will begin by introducing Avride's self-driving robots as a delivery option for Uber Eats orders in Austin, Texas. Later this year, the robots are expected to become available for delivery orders in Dallas and Jersey City, New Jersey. Autonomous driving is slated to begin service for Uber ride requests in Dallas in 2025. It will only be an option for "qualifying orders" on either Uber…
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Waymo and Uber are bringing their robotaxi service to Austin and Atlanta by early 2025

Waymo and Uber are bringing their robotaxi service to Austin and Atlanta by early 2025

and are to bring their robotaxi service to more locales in the near future. Waymo One will arrive in Austin and Atlanta by early 2025. Folks in the two cities will be able to take a ride in Waymo’s autonomous, electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles via the Uber app.Waymo employees in Austin are already using the service. The company will open up access to a limited number of public riders via the Waymo One app before moving the service to Uber early next year. The Atlanta public can start taking rides in the robotaxis in early 2025, and the companies plan…
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Uber gets slapped with €290 million fine

Uber gets slapped with €290 million fine

Uber has received its largest fine to date, with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) issuing a €290 million ($324 million) penalty to the rideshare company. The regulatory body announced it had issued the fine in response to Uber transferring the personal data of European taxi drivers into the United States without properly safeguarding the information. The complaint came from France, but the case was moved to Holland, where Uber's EU headquarters are located.The Dutch DPA found that Uber took account details, taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment details, identity documents and more from European drivers and transferred them to…
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Cruise’s self-driving cabs are coming to Uber next year

Cruise’s self-driving cabs are coming to Uber next year

General Motors’ robotaxi service Cruise has inked a multi-year deal with Uber. The deal will let Uber customers hail a Cruise self-driving taxi from their smartphone starting next year, according to . This means that Cruise’s self-driving taxis will be back on roads for the first time since striking a pedestrian in San Francisco in October 2023.Neither GM nor Uber gave a specific date or city for Uber’s rollout of Cruise’s robotaxis. A spokesperson told the website that the new partnership between Cruise and Uber would follow Cruise’s re-launch of its own driverless taxi service in 2025.Cruise is currently testing…
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California Supreme Court upholds classification of gig workers as independent contractors

California Supreme Court upholds classification of gig workers as independent contractors

Ride-share companies scored a victory in the California Supreme Court, allowing them to continue classifying gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig-economy companies invested around $200 million in the passage of Proposition 22, which voters approved in 2020. The state’s highest court rejected a legal challenge from a drivers’ group and a labor union, ending their quest to bring full employee benefits to the state’s gig workers.The California Supreme Court ruling affirms the state’s definition of drivers and other gig workers as independent contractors. Proposition 22, which received the support of 59 percent…
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California Supreme Court Rules That Uber and Lyft Drivers Will Remain Independent Contractors

California Supreme Court Rules That Uber and Lyft Drivers Will Remain Independent Contractors

The California Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that drivers for app-based companies including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash will remain independent contractors, as opposed to employees. The decision, upholding a state ballot measure called Proposition 22, was considered a major victory for the gig-economy companies.The question of whether those who drive for the companies should be treated as employees or contractors has spurred a yearslong legal battle in the state. In 2020, California voters approved Proposition 22, allowing app-based companies to continue to treat their workers as independent contractors. That vote reversed an earlier court ruling that found such companies…
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