General Motors has offered voluntary buyouts to 18,000 salaried employees in North America who have at least 12 years of experience, as the automaker looks to cut costs all while investing in its electric and autonomous future. The company has described this as a proactive measure aimed at preparing for coming headwinds such as slow… Continue reading GM looks to cut costs by offering buyouts to 18,000 employees
Author: Tech Crunch Online News
Lime recalls some scooters due to fire concerns
Lime, the electric scooter and bike-share startup, has pulled some of its scooters from the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego and Lake Tahoe. That’s because of two hardware challenges the company has experienced, Lime wrote in a blog post last night. In August, Lime says it became aware of a potential issue with some… Continue reading Lime recalls some scooters due to fire concerns
Waymo, take the wheel: Self-driving cars go fully driverless on California roads
Self-driving startup Waymo, a Google spin -off owned by parent company Alphabet, has been granted the first permit in California to begin driverless testing on public roads. Yes, that means self-driving cars without a human behind the wheel will be cruising around California, beginning with a limited geographic area in Silicon Valley. The company’s autonomous vehicles are a common sight… Continue reading Waymo, take the wheel: Self-driving cars go fully driverless on California roads
Ole Harms to talk about Moia’s mobility bet at Disrupt Berlin
Volkswagen Group wants to reinvent itself in the age of connected and electric vehicles. And it starts with Volkswagen’s Moia, a brand new mobility brand with services and vehicles built for the cities of tomorrow. That’s why I’m excited to announce that Moia CEO Ole Harms is joining us at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. Volkswagen has… Continue reading Ole Harms to talk about Moia’s mobility bet at Disrupt Berlin
Lime hires its first chief business officer amid push into car-sharing
After four months “on the beach,” per his LinkedIn profile, Uber’s former global head of business and corporate development has a new gig. Lime has hired David Richter (pictured) as its first-ever chief business officer and interim chief financial officer. Based in San Francisco, Richter will be overseeing the bike- and e-scooter-sharing startup’s business operations.… Continue reading Lime hires its first chief business officer amid push into car-sharing
Europe’s most popular ride-hailing service is launching e-scooters
Mytaxi, the Daimler-owned Uber competitor, announced today it would launch an electric scooter pilot in Southern Europe later this year, with a full international roll-out planned for 2019. Daimler initially took a 15 percent stake in Hamburg-based mytaxi in 2012, adding the company to its portfolio of ridesharing businesses that also includes Chauffeur Privé, Careem, Flinc, car2go and… Continue reading Europe’s most popular ride-hailing service is launching e-scooters
Unu raises $12 million to build new electric scooter
German startup Unu raised a $12 million funding round led by Ponooc with existing investors Capnamic Ventures, Iris Capital, Michael Baum and NRW.BANK also participating. The company has been building electric scooters (the motorcycle kind) and is working on new products and services. For the past five years, Unu has sold 10,000 scooters. The market… Continue reading Unu raises $12 million to build new electric scooter
China’s Didi Chuxing is poised to expand into hotel bookings
China’s largest ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing is entering the hotel-booking business as it strives to recover from two highly publicized murders of female passengers by drivers on its platform. That’s according to Chinese business magazine Caijing and tech news site 36kr (links in Chinese). R-Lab, the unit in charge of Didi’s new venture, is aptly… Continue reading China’s Didi Chuxing is poised to expand into hotel bookings
Waymo is testing what it should charge for its robotaxi service
Self-driving startup Waymo, a Google spin-off owned by parent company Alphabet, has started to test pricing models for rides in its autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, the latest indication that the company is preparing to launch a commercial robotaxi service. Waymo has not launched a wide-scale commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix — or anywhere — just yet. But it is getting… Continue reading Waymo is testing what it should charge for its robotaxi service
Electric scooter startup Grin merges with Brazil-based Ride
Grin, the Mexico City-based electric scooter company backed by Y Combinator, is merging with Sao Paulo-based Ride to further the company’s expansion across Latin America. This comes shortly after Grin raised a ~$45 million Series A round. Currently, Grin only operates in Mexico City, but it has plans to expand to other cities throughout Latin… Continue reading Electric scooter startup Grin merges with Brazil-based Ride