This Week In Rideshare: Robberies, Uber Robotaxis and App Wars – Legal Reader

LA drivers focused, Uber companions with Lucid and so they’re coming to your apps. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

Stick ’em ups on the rise, Uber on the offense towards different apps, and these are the droids you’re in search of… however not till subsequent yr. It’s all right here in This Week in Rideshare.

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LA UBER EATS DRIVERS ROBBED

Uber Eats drivers in LA are getting robbed. ABC7 reported:

Throughout Tuesday’s police fee assembly, Chief Jim McDonnell stated there have been eight totally different incidents involving Uber Eats drivers reported this yr.

He stated they’ve additionally seen extra taco stand robberies with 5 reported within the Wilshire, Hollywood and northeast L.A. areas. He stated these taco stand robberies concerned two male suspects.

McDonnell stated officers are pursuing leads and hope to make arrests quickly. Anybody with info is urged to contact police.

UBER PARTNERS WITH LUCID: ROBOTAXIS BY 2026

Uber is increasing its robotaxi companions. Bloomberg reported:

Uber introduced Thursday it would buy and function Lucid Gravity SUVs outfitted with Nuro Driver know-how on its ride-sharing community. The corporate goals to launch the primary automobile later in 2026 in an unidentified main US metropolis, with plans to deploy no less than 20,000 of the robotaxis over six years.

The ride-sharing firm additionally introduced it’s making separate multi-hundred-million greenback investments in each Lucid and Nuro. That funding will embrace $300 million for Lucid that might be utilized in half to improve to its meeting line to combine Nuro {hardware} into the Gravity autos, in accordance with the EV firm.

The Lucid-Nuro deal provides to greater than a dozen partnerships that Uber has introduced with autonomous automobile tech builders and carmakers, together with Waymo and Volkswagen Group of America, because it goals to be the go-to business app for robotaxis. Earlier this week, Uber introduced a partnership with Chinese language AV maker Baidu to deploy robotaxis in a number of non-US markets. At present autonomous rides can be found via the Uber app in Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and Abu Dhabi.

UBER TRIES STOPPING GIGU/MYSTRO

Uber is coming to your driver apps. Enterprise Insider reported:

As gig employees’ incomes have dropped, some Uber and Lyft drivers are turning to apps like GigU, Maxymo, and Mystro to assist them work smarter — and dodge the lowest-paying rides.

Among the apps have not too long ago encountered roadblocks within the type of rideshare giants Uber and Lyft, which argue that utilizing the third-party apps runs afoul of their phrases of service.

An Uber consultant stated they wouldn’t speak about any particular app, however stated “utilizing third-party instruments to bypass the system breaks our Group Pointers and Phrases of Service. It hurts riders, different drivers, and the belief that retains Uber working.”

They aren’t free, however they are saying drivers can improve their earnings by greater than what the instruments value, which ranges from $5 to $19 a month. Some drivers have beforehand instructed BI that they will earn more money in the event that they’re pickier concerning the rides they settle for, although for Uber drivers, declining rides based mostly on locations can put their accounts in danger.

Now, it’s the one cracking down. GigU, which launched in the USA in Could, was sued by Uber in Brazil, the place it says its app has been downloaded a half-million instances. GigU says it has come out forward, though Uber has stated the authorized course of is ongoing. GigU additionally stated it has filed an antitrust criticism towards Uber with CADE, a Brazilian regulator.

LegalRideshare is the primary legislation agency in the USA to focus solely on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig employee accidents and accidents. Consultations are at all times free.

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