2019 is off to a great start as we continue to bring top talent into the Lyft family. The newest addition to Lyft’s leadership team is Michelle DeBella who joins as our Vice President of Finance Strategy. Michelle is a dynamic and results-oriented finance executive with more than 20 years of experience. She was mostly… Continue reading Lyft Brings on Former Uber Executive as Vice President of Finance Strategy
Tag: Uber
Lyft plans to give riders and drivers an electric lift
Lyft car picking up a rider
Lyft is the latest car-sharing company to sign onto an effort to make ride sharing cars more efficient.
The post-millennial taxi service announced that it plans to introduce “thousands” of electric cars onto its platform and make it easy for riders to choose them using a new “Green Mode” in the Lyft app.
“These efforts will provide cleaner transportation options for Lyft riders, and increase net earnings for our driver community. Once adopted widely, EVs hold the promise of making cities more livable by dramatically reducing air pollution,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday.
READ MORE: Uber starts paying drivers to buy electric
The company, which already bills itself as the only ride-sharing service to become carbon neutral after purchasing carbon credits to offset the emissions from its drivers' vehicles, says all the electric cars will be charged using renewable energy.
The Green Mode launched in Seattle on Wednesday and is expected to roll out in other parts of the country later. Riders just select Green Mode in their Lyft app, and only electric Lyfts will show up.
Lyft says that 80 percent of its drivers favor eco-friendly vehicle options, and consistently tell the service they want to increase their profits by lowering fuel costs.
Green Mode on Lyft app
Drivers will be able to rent electric ride-sharing cars through Lyft's Express Drive service. For drivers who choose electric cars, unlimited charging will be included in the weekly rental charge.
Electric cars will be available to drivers through Express Drive immediately in Seattle and Atlanta, and the service plans to roll out electric Lyfts more widely throughout 2019.
CHECK OUT: Uber to bank London surcharge toward electric vehicles for its drivers
Some taxi and ride-sharing drivers have struggled with electric cars when they've found inadequate places to charge or had to spend too long off the road waiting for a charge.
From the standpoint of cities, though, converting taxis and ride-sharing cars to electric power could offer clean-air benefits that are too good to ignore.
Ex-Uber and Ofo exec leaps into bespoke skincare
Find out why she made the jump from transportation into an entirely different industry. Go to Source
Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
In the past year, more than 63,000 people took 625,000 rides on JUMP bikes in San Francisco, JUMP announced today. Each JUMP bike in San Francisco saw an average of seven rides per bike per day compared to the docked-bike industry average of one to two per day. JUMP initially launched 250 bikes at the… Continue reading Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
Amazon just invested in self-driving car company Aurora
Leonard Ortiz | Digital First Media | Getty Images
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, speaks to a group of Amazon employees that are veterans during an Amazon Veterans Day celebration, to honor the Warriors@Amazon, a group of employees who have served in the military and their spouses, in an event outside a hanger at the Long Beach Airport in Long Beach on Monday, November 12, 2018. The event included the unveiling Amazon's 40th airplane named Valor in honor of the group. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
Self-driving car startup Aurora announced on Thursday that it has raised more than $530 million in funding, from investors including Amazon, Sequoia and the investment arm of energy giant Shell.
“This funding and partnership will accelerate our mission of delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly,” Aurora said. Aurora's management has a lot of experience in the automotive industry.
The company's CEO and co-founder Chris Urmson is the former CTO of self-driving cars at Alphabet, which owns the autonomous vehicle firm Waymo. Co-founder and chief product officer Sterling Anderson led the design and launch of the Tesla Model X, according to Aurora's website. Drew Bagnell, Aurora's chief technology officer and co-founder helped found Uber's Advanced Technology Center.
“We are always looking to invest in innovative, customer-obsessed companies, and Aurora is just that,” Amazon told CNBC in a statement. “Autonomous technology has the potential to help make the jobs of our employees and partners safer and more productive, whether it's in a fulfillment center or on the road, and we're excited about the possibilities.”
The Wall Street Journal said last year that Amazon has a team dedicated to building autonomous vehicle technology. Amazon also announced a partnership with Toyota last year that will help Amazon explore ways to use self-driving cars to deliver food. Earlier this week, CNBC reported that Amazon is already hauling cargo in self-driving trucks developed by Embark.
Rather than manufacturing its own vehicles, Aurora is working with incumbents like VW and Hyundai, as well as Byton in China, to develop self-driving cars. It competes with Waymo, other venture backed autonomous vehicle start-ups like Zoox, and self-driving companies that were acquired by Ford and GM, Argo.AI and Cruise, respectively.
Neither Amazon nor Aurora revealed just how much of the new funding round came from Amazon. The e-commerce titan's investment in Aurora follows its addition of risk language in its 10K filings, that Amazon views “transportation and logistics services” as competition.
Amazon's delivery costs exceeded $27 billion in 2018. Using advanced driver-assistive technology, or fully self-driving vehicles, could help it curb delivery costs.
-CNBC's Deirdre Bosa and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
Amazon Echo is a key part of company's future, says NYT columnist
12:16 PM ET Fri, 1 Feb 2019 | 04:19
Chauffeur Privé to take on Uber in London – Financial Times
Chauffeur Privé to take on Uber in London Financial Times Chauffeur Privé, a Daimler-backed start-up that has emerged as the main challenger to Uber in France, is now taking on its rival in the UK as part of an ambitious … Go to Source Go to Source
Lime raises $310 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Ventures and others
Lime just announced it has raised a $310 million Series D round. Led by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Ventures, GV and IVP, the round values Lime at $2.4 billion. “This new investment demonstrates the fundamental strength of our business and the increasingly rapid adoption of Lime,” Lime CEO Toby Sun wrote in a… Continue reading Lime raises $310 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Ventures and others
Arizona Bills Look to Redefine Car Rental, Carsharing
Photo via Wars/Wikipedia.com Two competing Arizona bills are looking at how to define car rental companies in the era of peer-to-peer rentals. One bill would define peer-to-peer companies like Turo and Getaround as the same as traditional car rental companies, according to a report by the Arizona Capitol Times. The other bill from Rep. Travis Grantham refers to… Continue reading Arizona Bills Look to Redefine Car Rental, Carsharing
Tesla batteries, EPA comments, Hyundai and Kia plug-in availability: Today’s Car News
2020 Kia Soul EV
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said electric cars are “not grounds for concern” at the EPA—yet highway safety and car prices are. Tesla buys a company that builds ultracapacitors. Hyundai and Kia aim to avoid the dreaded “compliance car” label with their EV sales—barely. We investigate the hesitation. In our latest Twitter poll, readers tell us how important it is to them that their electric car be American-made. All this and more on Green Car Reports.
At a Bloomberg conference on the future of mobility in California, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler sat down with California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols to try and iron out their differences over emissions and fuel-economy standards. Wheeler also told the Bloomberg conference, that whether cars run on electricity or some other fuel “is not grounds for concern” at the EPA. Or at least it isn't if the agency doesn't concern itself with air quality.
On Monday, Tesla bought San Diego-based ultracapacitor manufacturer Maxwell Technologies, in what looks like an effort to develop more energy-dense batteries and possibly even acquire solid-state technology.
Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are cranking out new electric and plug-in cars right and left, with four electrics and four plug-in hybrids among their lineups. Yet the cars are not widely available and many buyers complain of not being able to get one. We look at what's going on.
In our latest Twitter poll results, our readers weigh in on how important it is to them to buy American with their next electric car, if the purchase supports building an innovative economy in the U.S.
Aston Martin's uber-exclusive luxury brand Lagonda plans to show its first electric SUV at the Geneva auto show next month.
Finally, the National Transportation Safety Board released its “most wanted” list of new laws to make roads safer. On top of the list: mandatory automatic emergency braking for cars, trucks, and RVs that will stop for motorcycles, too; and a lower 0.05 blood-alcohol threshold for drunk driving arrests.
_______________________________________
Follow Green Car Reports on Facebook and Twitter
Uber Freight co-founders and top dealmakers join logistics startup Turvo
Last year, Charlie Bergevin and Brian Cristol, co-founders of Uber’s trucking logistics business Uber Freight, heard Reid Hoffman say Turvo had some of the best technology he had ever seen. Frustrated with the direction Uber Freight had taken, they called up Turvo’s founder and chief executive officer Eric Gilmore. It wasn’t long before offers were on… Continue reading Uber Freight co-founders and top dealmakers join logistics startup Turvo