Mountain View startup Drive.ai, which made kits to turn regular cars into autonomous ones, will shut its office in June and lay off 90 workers in a permanent closure of its business, according to a filing with a state agency. At the same time, Apple has hired a handful of hardware and software engineers from… Continue reading Drive.ai, a self-driving car startup once worth $200 million, is closing – San Francisco Chronicle
Tag: Lyft
Via Far Outpaces Uber, Lyft in NYC Utilization
Published June 21, 2019 6:01 pm, Via NYC
Via Far Outpaces Uber, Lyft in NYC Utilization
A new study by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commissions reveals Via has a substantially higher utilization rate than its competition, cutting down on ‘cruising’
Newly proposed ride-hailing regulations in New York City reveal that Via is outpacing the competition yet again, this time showing that Via has a dramatically higher utilization rate than its competitors.
That’s according to a new study by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission on how to improve efficiency and manage for-hire vehicle growth in NYC. The city announced it will soon require for-hire vehicles in Manhattan be empty no more than 36 percent of the time by February 2020, and 31 percent by August 2020. But according to the TLC, Via is already at only 13 percent, while every other company is at least 42 percent.
According to the report, Via “has a substantially higher utilization in the Manhattan core (87%) than do Uber, Lyft, or Juno (54-58% in the Manhattan core). Of the other three high-volume FHV companies, Uber has the highest utilization and Juno the lowest, but the difference is small.”
Taking home the top spot for utilization is nothing new for Via, either. In 2018, the TLC reported that Via had the highest utilization rate of any for-hire vehicle service in New York City. Since launching in 2013, 95 percent of the company’s rides in NYC have been booked as shared. To date, Via’s shared rides eliminated 30 million driver miles on New York streets.
That’s compared to self-reported data from Uber and Lyft, which saw only 20 percent and 35 percent booked as shared, respectively.
The city’s latest report on utilization, however, comes just months after it mandated widespread driver wage increases, where it became clear that Via already paid its drivers far above the new minimum wage restrictions. And not by coincidence, Via’s higher driver pay and vehicle utilization are linked.
The TLC’s new report outlines how Uber, Lyft and Juno’s low utilization rates “cause drivers to spend over 40% of total work time empty and cruising for passengers. Combined with decreasing per-trip pay, this underutilization led to significant declines in driver income.”
Much like NYC’s updated minimum wage requirements, Via is already far exceeding the city’s new proposed “cruising” requirement. New York officials are now demanding that Uber, Lyft and Juno play catch-up.
Between Via’s exceptional utilization rate and high driver wages, the company continues to prove that it’s possible to run a highly efficient transportation service that both treats drivers fairly and reduces traffic congestion.
Read more
Now Available: XL and Lux Scheduled Rides
Did you know you can now schedule a Lux or XL ride up to a week in advance? Whether you’re catching an early-morning flight or have a business meeting across town, you’ll have one less thing to worry about. Now you can schedule XL and Lux rides for those times when you need extra space… Continue reading Now Available: XL and Lux Scheduled Rides
North Carolina Cab Driver Creates Ride-Hailing App
Jerry Crosby, a driver with Yellow Cab of Charleston, got the idea when Uber and Lyft starting operating in his city a few years ago. Photo via Marcin Monko/Flickr. A cab driver in Charleston, N.C., is panning to launch his own version of a ride-hailing app this summer, The Post and Courier reports. Jerry Crosby, a… Continue reading North Carolina Cab Driver Creates Ride-Hailing App
Lyft, Agero partner to offer rides for consumers requiring tow assistance
FILE PHOTO: Lyft supporters gather for the Lyft IPO as the company lists its shares on the Nasdaq in the first-ever ride-hailing initial public offering, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo (Reuters) – Roadside assistance provider Agero Inc said on Tuesday it would partner with ride hailing company Lyft Inc… Continue reading Lyft, Agero partner to offer rides for consumers requiring tow assistance
Cars: Until the VW robot car it takes “a few more days”
Volkswagen has created a new board position: the software board. He sees the autonomous driving still in the distance. June 18, 2019, 7:45 am, Andreas Donath Volkswagen does not expect a quick break in autonomous driving (Image: Pexels /CC0 1.0) Tesla boss Elon Musk thinks autonomous driving is still in to be able to offer… Continue reading Cars: Until the VW robot car it takes “a few more days”
The electric scooter wars won’t end
On the heels of unveiling its pink-wheeled e-bikes for the San Francisco Bay Area, Lyft is doing the same for its electric scooters in Denver, Colo. Lyft says these scooters are designed to be more durable, and feature a more powerful battery and a hand brake. Upon first look, however, these scooters don’t appear particularly… Continue reading The electric scooter wars won’t end
UPDATE 3-Uber unveils next-generation Volvo self-driving car
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc unveiled its newest Volvo self-driving car in Washington on Wednesday as it works to eventually deploy vehicles without drivers under some limited conditions. FILE PHOTO: Uber’s Volvo XC90 self driving car is shown during a demonstration of self-driving automotive technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk… Continue reading UPDATE 3-Uber unveils next-generation Volvo self-driving car
The Rising Importance of Fleet Managers
Image via Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. When we finally get there, they say we won’t own autonomous vehicles (AVs), we’ll summon them as needed and pay for their usage. Deploying millions of AVs owned and managed by organizations, not individual consumers, will be a permanent, societal paradigm shift toward fleets. At Bobit, we calculate the… Continue reading The Rising Importance of Fleet Managers
Introducing Bay Wheels: New Bikes and a New Name
Big news for anyone who wants to get around the Bay Area on two wheels: Today, the Ford GoBike system has a new name — Bay Wheels. We’re also launching a brand-new ebike that you can access with just two taps in the Lyft app. We’ve been working for many months on this new hybrid… Continue reading Introducing Bay Wheels: New Bikes and a New Name