Lyft announces new CEO, says co-founders will step aside from management positions | CNN Business

March 28, 2023March 27, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Lyft announced on Monday that Amazon veteran David Risher will join as chief executive next month, and that co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer will step down from their management positions at the ride-hailing company.

Green, who is currently the CEO, will be succeeded by Risher effective April 17, the company said in a statement. Zimmer, Lyft’s president, will also step down from his role as of June 30, the company said. Both Green and Zimmer will stay on at Lyft in non-executive roles as chair and vice chair of the Lyft board, respectively. No replacement for Zimmer was named.

Uber, Lyft to pay NYC drivers more by end of year | TechCrunch

November 16, 2022November 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Uber and Lyft will have to increase the minimum pay rates for drivers in New York City by the end of the year, Engadget reports. The fare increase comes amid a driver shortage post-pandemic, in large part due to rising operational costs.

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted to increase the per-minute rates of ride-hail drivers by 7.42% and per-mile rates by 23.93%. Yellow and green cab rates will also increase by 23% by the end of this year.

The commission is hoping that increasing the pay rates will attract more taxis and drivers to the roads in order to serve increasing passenger demand.

How to Become a Rideshare Driver | businessnewsdaily.com

April 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The entry barriers are lower than with most jobs if you’re looking to drive for Uber or Lyft. Here’s how to properly hit the road with these apps.

Driving for Lyft and Uber doesn’t require interviews or many hard skills, so there’s a relatively low barrier to entry. You’ll still need to provide valid auto documentation and pass background checks, though.
Uber and Lyft have slightly different requirements for drivers and vehicles. You’ll generally need at least a year of driving experience and a car in great condition.
You’ll need to get your car inspected before your app of choice permits you to drive. Depending on your location, you may need to get your car inspected every 4-12 months.

This article is for people interested in driving for Uber or Lyft.

California’s Plan to Electrify Uber and Lyft Doesn’t Add Up | WIRED

March 23, 2022March 22, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

GABE ETS-HOKIN HAS been picking up Bay Area Uber and Lyft passengers in electric vehicles since 2018, and he says he is never going back to petrol. “The day-to-day reality of driving an electric vehicle is like a gasoline car, except it’s quieter, more fun to drive, more comfortable, and passengers love it,” he says.

EVs, he explains, are an especially good fit for the stop-and-start of driving in dense cities because they use regenerative braking, which captures the energy used to slow to a stop and “reinvests” it in charging the battery. Instead of tracking down public chargers, he hooks his car up to the charger he’s installed at his house.

Why Uber and Lyft rallied last week | TechCrunch

May 11, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Heading into earnings season, you might have expected Uber and Lyft to suffer.

After all, global travel slowed toward the end of Q1, so how could these companies have done well? Continuing the same line of thinking, given that they are both unprofitable and are valued more on growth than trailing earnings, with growth slowing would there be much to celebrate?

The answer was a resounding “yes.” Uber and Lyft both rallied toward the end of last week following their successive earnings reports.

Today, let’s go back and remind ourselves how Uber and Lyft performed against Q1 expectations and what they said about the hits they took in March (Q1) and early April (Q2). Then we’ll ask ourselves why their shares rallied despite telling investors that their businesses had begun to fall sharply in the COVID-19 world.

How Self-Driving Cars Could Shape Our Future | Entrepreneur

August 14, 2019August 12, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Self-driving cars are a shared ambition among Google, Tesla, Apple, Uber and Lyft, among other automotive, tech and ridesharing companies. For Uber and Lyft specifically, it’s a matter of cutting costs. However, fiscal expediency is not the main benefit of this emerging technology. Roughly 94 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human error, and to many, autonomous vehicles (AVs) seem to be our only path toward lessening related fatalities. In addition, driverless cars have other benefits, such as lower fuel consumption, lower CO2 emissions and a reduction in congestion. Here are the main ways they stand to change our lives and carve out a lane in the consumer marketplace, as well as the challenges this fledgling sector will need to overcome.

Here’s how Lyft envisions self-driving cars communicating with pedestrians | TechCrunch

December 12, 2018December 11, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The question of how self-driving cars will interact and communicate with humans is one that has come up before, but the answer is still up in the air. Google has been looking into this at least since 2012, and earlier this year, Uber filed a patent for using flashing lights and sounds to talk to pedestrians. Now, the United States Patent Office has granted Lyft with a patent for what it describes as an autonomous vehicle notification system.

Lyft’s solution entails developing a predetermined message to display on the most visible car window. In one example, each window includes a projector, a see-through screen or another display device to communicate the message.

Lyft surges to the top 10 on Apple’s App Store following the #DeleteUber campaign | TechCrunch

January 30, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Lyft’s app has surged in the App Store thanks to the “Delete Uber” campaign which took place via social media over the weekend. People were angry that Uber appeared to be taking advantage of a taxi strike at JFK in order to promote its car-hailing service. The company had tweeted that surge pricing at JFK had been switched off, shortly after the NY Taxi Workers Alliance called for a stop on pickups at the airport in response to what they said was the “inhumane, unconstitutional ban of Muslim refugees and travelers.”

The Taxi Workers Alliance had asked all drivers, Uber included, to not pick up at JFK on Saturday, January 28th from 6 PM to 7 PM as a means of protesting Trump’s immigration and refugee ban.

“We cannot be silent. We go to work to welcome people to a land that once welcomed us,” the taxi union had written on Twitter.

Inside Seattle’s Bold Plan to Let Its Uber Drivers Organize | WIRED

December 15, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

THE CLASH OVER classifying Uber drivers as independent contractors versus bona fide employees is the signature controversy of the on-demand economy. According to Uber, Lyft, and other on-demand driver companies, the independent contractor model offers the promise of a bright and flexible future in which each worker is a micro-entrepreneur—choosing her own hours and acting as her own boss. The problem, according to Uber detractors: these workers don’t receive benefits. And they can’t unionize.