Drivers don’t fret driverless, Seattle rides are expensive, and Uber’s female test. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS DON’T WORRY ABOUT DRIVERLESS
Some drivers aren’t worried about driverless. Business Insider reported:
Drivers who spoke to Business Insider on Thursday said that, despite the deal, the company likely faces big obstacles as it introduces self-driving cars, which should keep their jobs safe for now.
One Uber driver in South Carolina told BI that he expects it to take several years before autonomous vehicles become common.
“They’re still going to use people,” the driver said.
On a Reddit forum for Uber drivers, some posters pointed to situations in which they believe the company will likely still need a human at the wheel, such as on bad roads or during inclement weather.
“First thought is thank God self driving can’t handle snow and potholles yet,” one Reddit user wrote in the comments of a post about Uber’s partnership with Lucid.
EXPENSIVE SEATTLE RIDES
Seattle has the most expensive rides. Kiro 7 reported:
The most expensive average Uber ride in the country is in Seattle, where a 30-minute ride costs an average of $60, according to a study by NetCredit.
The price of Uber rides increased by approximately 7% nationwide last year. In addition to the rising prices, customers have cited the company’s surge-pricing method — a pricing practice that increases fares during periods of high demand and limited driver availability — as a reason to seek alternative transportation options.
“It’s making people miserable to not know what things cost,” Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, told NetCredit. “We live in an age where budgeting is really essential to get by amid a really long-term affordability crisis in this country.”
UBER’S FEMALE-ONLY RIDES
Uber is testing a female-only mode. Bloomberg Reported:
The service will launch in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit over the next few weeks, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Riders will see a new on-demand ride option called “Women Drivers” alongside the existing UberX, Comfort, UberXL and Black offerings. Customers can reserve such a trip in advance, or set their preference in the app settings to increase the likelihood of being matched with a woman driver.
Female drivers, who make up about 1 in 5 of Uber’s US driver population, can similarly choose that preference in the settings of their driver app. Drivers’ eligibility for the program will be based on the gender listed on their license. For riders, it will be determined by their first name or whether they specified their gender as female on their Uber profile.
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