US students detained, a losing bet and black-market accounts. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
US STUDENTS DETAINED IN DENMARK
Two US students are being held in Denmark. CNN reported:
Two US college students were arrested and detained for two weeks in Denmark after an alleged altercation with an Uber driver, local police said Tuesday.
The alleged incident took place around 2 a.m. on March 31 (8 p.m. ET on March 30) after Owen Ray and a friend were returning from a night out in the Danish capital at the end of a spring break in Europe.
Ray and his friend, who has not been named, had ordered an Uber to return to their hotel but realized they had selected the wrong destination, according to family spokesperson Erin Pelton. Unable to update the location in the Uber app, they canceled the ride.
The canceled fare was automatically paid via the app, said Pelton. The driver, however, did not believe he had been paid and allegedly began threatening the students.
Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Ray said that the driver got out of the car and started yelling that he hadn’t been paid, threatening to “call 10 guys.” Ray added, “We did nothing wrong — we were the victims of an attack.”
The incident was captured on the Uber driver’s dash cam, which is now part of the court case in Denmark, Pelton told CNN.
Copenhagen police told CNN that the students were brought before a court on the same day, facing charges of common assault.
Uber told CNN that the driver reported that the two students started fighting in the back of the car and later assaulted him after the trip had ended. The driver subsequently called the authorities. A company spokesperson said in a statement, “The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously.”
CYBERCAB: TESLA’S LOSING BET
Tesla’s cybercab looks like a losing bet. Electrek reported:
According to a credible new report, Elon Musk has reportedly shut down an internal analysis from Tesla executives that showed the company’s Robotaxi plans would lose money and that it should focus on its more affordable ‘Model 2’.
The executives pointed to an internal report that didn’t paint a good picture of Tesla’s Robotaxi plan. The report has credibility as Patel commented on it.
Musk dismissed the analysis, greenlighted the Cybercab, and killed the $25,000 driveable Tesla vehicle in favor of the Model Y-based cheaper vehicle with fewer features.
After accounting for competition, Tesla figured it would be hard for robotaxis to replace the ~600,000 vehicles it sells in the US annually.
Furthermore, Tesla’s internal analysis pointed toward difficulties expanding into other markets, which could limit the scale and profitability of the robotaxi program. Ultimately, it predicted that it could lose money for years.
BLACK-MARKET UBER ACCOUNTS
Drivers are buying black market accounts on Facebook. Fortune reported:
A new report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) is raising new safety concerns about Facebook, accusing the social-media company of hosting several “black market” pages where people can buy or rent driver accounts for a number of consumer-facing companies.
As many as 800,000 Facebook users belong to 80 groups the TTP identified that let users trade driver accounts for Uber, DoorDash, and other ride-share and delivery companies. That lets people acquire the accounts without going through the screening process drivers are normally subjected to. And it raises both safety concerns for customers and fears of possible identity theft for riders or people who place orders.
“Renting” an Uber Eats account, according to a Jan. 3, 2025 post, went for as little as $65. Most people listing accounts asked prospective renters or buyers to contact them directly, to keep the dealings out of public view.
TTP said the existence of these groups indicated content moderation on Facebook was not being properly enforced, as many of the accounts had obvious names such as “Doordash & Uber Account For Rent And Sell Group.” (Facebook denied the issue had anything to do with the enforcement changes it announced in January.)
