Lyft Says It’s ‘Not in the Transportation Business,’ So Disability Law Doesn’t Apply – Gizmodo

Photo: Mario Tama (Getty) We’re in the season of multi-billion-dollar rideshare IPOs where the spotlight is on global and unprofitable transportation companies like Lyft and Uber as they try to get into the black. Let’s check in with how the process is unfolding. Excuse me, I’m sorry, my notes here say that actually, Lyft is… Continue reading Lyft Says It’s ‘Not in the Transportation Business,’ So Disability Law Doesn’t Apply – Gizmodo

Lyft and Ground Up PDX introduce Cashew Chai

This spring, Lyft has teamed up with Ground Up PDX, a Portland company that employs women overcoming adversity, to debut the customized nut butter flavor, Cashew Chai — a flavor imagined by Lyft driver and aspiring teacher Melanie H. With each jar sold, Lyft will donate a ride to nonprofit Outside In to help a… Continue reading Lyft and Ground Up PDX introduce Cashew Chai

Liam O’Connor, hired to help build Lyft’s bike and scooter business, has left after 7 months

The emerging business of offering bikes and scooters on demand has not always been very smooth, and today comes one of the latest bumps: TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Liam O’Connor, an executive hired to help transportation company Lyft build its bike and scooter operations, has left after seven months with the newly-public company.… Continue reading Liam O’Connor, hired to help build Lyft’s bike and scooter business, has left after 7 months

TransitScreen Raises $3M in Funding

TransitScreen, a Washington, DC-based provider of real-time transportation information software, closed a $3m funding round. Backers included Timia Capital. bringing the total to The company, which has raised $6.1m in total funding, intends to use the funds to enhance the capabilities of its mobile app CityMotion, continue hiring and increase its office space in Washington,… Continue reading TransitScreen Raises $3M in Funding

Lyft Hires First Head of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Lyft’s mission is to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation. And in order to deliver on our mission, we need to have a deep understanding of our drivers and riders and the cities in which they live. We’re taking steps every day to make that happen, and that’s why we’re thrilled to announce… Continue reading Lyft Hires First Head of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Bird Announces Monthly Scooter Subscription Service

Personal Scooting The electric scooter company Bird just unveiled a new subscription service: instead of hunting for an available unit and paying to activate it, customers can pay a monthly fee to get access to their own scooter for a full month. The new subscription service, currently available only in San Francisco and Barcelona, may… Continue reading Bird Announces Monthly Scooter Subscription Service

UPDATE 4-Lyft elevates GM first-quarter profit, pickups in driver’s seat

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co on Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, lifted by revaluations of shares it holds in ride-hailing company Lyft Inc and France’s Peugeot SA. FILE PHOTO: A General Motors sign is seen during the China International Import Expo (CIIE), at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China November… Continue reading UPDATE 4-Lyft elevates GM first-quarter profit, pickups in driver’s seat

REFILE-UPDATE 1-German chauffeur service Blacklane plans IPO within 3 years

DUBAI (Reuters) – German chauffeur service Blacklane is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the next three years, its chief executive told Reuters, as it strives to build its position in the fast-growing premium taxi market. Any flotation would follow those of larger ride-hailing rivals. U.S. group Lyft listed last month with a valuation… Continue reading REFILE-UPDATE 1-German chauffeur service Blacklane plans IPO within 3 years

Lyft, Banner Health, MCAO and iHeart Media Partner to Provide Safe Rides for Cinco de Mayo

Continuing the successful campaign “Save Lives, Don’t DUI,” the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with Lyft, Banner Health, and iHeart Media to offer an incentive not to drink and drive this Cinco de Mayo. “Lyft has been an important partner in our Save Lives Don’t DUI campaign. By offering discounted rides and helping to… Continue reading Lyft, Banner Health, MCAO and iHeart Media Partner to Provide Safe Rides for Cinco de Mayo

Elon Musk emailed employees about how great Tesla’s autonomy day was, but the plan has lots of holes

Tesla CEO Elon Musk views the new Tesla Model Y at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesTesla CEO Elon Musk did what he does best on Monday when he presented bold, visionary promises that only his most loyal followers would take at face value.
Specifically, Musk gave guidance that Tesla will have a million “robotaxis” on the road next year, meaning a million truly driverless cars that can operate commercially in a ride-hailing network, generating passive income for their owners.
Musk celebrated the day in an email to all employees on Monday afternoon.
Subj. Great day for Tesla!
The Autonomy Day was extremely well-received. Feedback has been incredible. [Smiling emoji here.]
Awesome result of extremely intense effort by the Autopilot Team!
[two clapping emoji]
Elon
Promising safe, driverless cars within a year is already exceedingly optimistic. But Musk went further to say that each Tesla — equipped with some future version of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software — could generate $30,000 in gross income for owners each year if operated as a robotaxi.
VIDEO1:2601:26Elon Musk says Tesla will have 'robotaxis' on the road by 2020That's not realistic, considering Tesla's production numbers to date and the average salary of a ride-hailing driver in the US today.
The event served as a distraction from Tesla's recent operational, regulatory and financial troubles, which will be in full focus during the company's first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.
Among some of its recent challenges, Tesla slowed production of its Model S and X vehicles in recent quarters and recently closed stores and laid off thousands of employees. Plus, Musk remains locked in a battle with the SEC over his use of social media to disseminate material business information. Tesla had around $180 million in debt coming due this month. And sales of its Model 3 slowed down in the first quarter.
A history of self-driving promisesIn 2018, ride-hailing trade publication Ridester found that human drivers working 40 hours a week for the likes of Uber or Lyft make annual salaries of about $31,000 before vehicle expenses, and about $20,000 after expenses but before taxes in the US.
Those people are driving cars already deemed street legal, and picking up fares in major cities and at airports where local laws have been, for the most part, hashed out authorizing them to drive there.
Meanwhile, the company has produced only about 600,000 cars to date. Not all of them are still on the road.
Tesla said in its fourth-quarter earnings release that it was aiming to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, about 45 percent to 65 percent more than its deliveries last year.
VIDEO8:0508:05Tesla loses $2.90/share, revenue light, as wellTo reach a million robotaxis in 2020, Tesla would have to continue producing cars near the high-end of its previous guidance. Then, the majority of those cars would have to get the necessary software updates to reach Full Self-Driving status, which currently costs $5,000 when customers order the car or $7,000 as an upgrade if added after delivery, although these prices could change over time. Finally, owners would have to agree to let their cars participate in a Tesla robotaxi network.
Meanwhile, truly driverless vehicles do not yet exist. Tesla doesn't sell one. Neither does any other company.
Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanual Rosner, who took a test drive of the vehicles Tesla showed on Tuesday, was skeptical, writing, “Throughout the ride, the car performed relatively well but experienced a few rough maneuvers and had one disengagement where it failed to recognize cones blocking off some parked vehicles on the side of the road.”
He continued, “Given our own test ride still faced issues despite being on a pre-planned course and under relatively simple road conditions, we believe the company's targeted timeline for both full self-driving and its robotaxi service is at the very least aggressive. Ultimately, we still wonder whether Tesla can even solve the large challenges of fully autonomous driving with its vision-based approach alone.”
Musk has made grandiose promises about self-driving before.
In October 2016, Musk touted Tesla's second-generation autonomous driving hardware, saying that system could power full level 5 autonomy in his company's cars — that means the car could drive in all conditions with zero human attention. Musk said the company expected that a Tesla would be able to complete a hands-free trip across the US by late 2017. As of April 2019, Tesla has not demonstrated any of its vehicles completing such a trip, although self-driving pioneer Anthony Levandowski says a car from his new start-up accomplished the task last December.
Analysts were generally skeptical. Cowen analysts wrote, “The Tesla Network robotaxi plans seemed half baked, with the company appearing toeither not have answers to or not even considered pretty basic question on the pricing,insurance liability, or regulatory and legal requirements.”
Even some historical Tesla bulls were not swayed by the presentation.
Dan Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities said, “The presentation was more visionary and lacked the details the Street wants to know which is key to credibility. It was more geared to the autonomy world as Musk is telling technologists 'don't forget about Tesla,' with Waymo and Uber getting a ton of credit.”
Tesla stock traded down about 4% on Monday, and ticked up by less than a point in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock is down about 30% from its most recent peak in December, and down about 9% from a year ago.
VIDEO2:3902:39Tesla's Elon Musk promises 'robotaxis' by 2020