Uber is positive on robotaxis, Florida reduces insurance and a new e-hail app. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER SEES OPPORTUNITY IN ROBOTAXIS
Uber sees light at the end of the tunnel for robotaxis. Axios reported:
Uber’s superpower, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi argues, is the efficiency of its global network — something standalone AV companies lack.
He’s positioning Uber as an “indispensable demand layer,” Brulte notes, with the company hoping to become the world’s largest facilitator of AV trips by 2029.
“AVs fundamentally amplify the strengths of our platform,” Khosrowshahi told investors: “global scale, deep demand density, sophisticated marketplace technology, and decades of experience matching riders, drivers and vehicles, all in real time,” he said.
The intrigue: Early data suggests Uber’s ride-hailing demand is expanding, not shrinking, in cities where AVs operate, Khosrowshahi said — even in places where they’re not yet available on Uber’s network.
FLORIDA REDUCES INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS
Florida is looking to reduce insurance. Tampa Bay Times reported:
Currently, the company has to have liability coverage of at least $1 million for death, bodily injury and property damage for all periods of a ride. The bill would reduce the required coverage to $50,000 when a ride is accepted. When a passenger is in the vehicle, it would go back to $1 million.
Bill sponsor Sen. Nick DiCeglie, a St. Petersburg Republican, said he’s heard concerns about needing higher insurance if a driver was speeding to a ride. But he’s said he’s not seen any evidence showing that’s common.
“It’s a cost savings, and at the end of the day, that’s going to always benefit the employee and ultimately the consumer,” DiCeglie said.
Representatives from Lyft’s primary competitor, Uber, said the company isn’t lobbying either way on the legislation.
Under legislation passed that year, rideshare companies would be regulated as technology companies with independent contractors instead of as taxi companies. And the deal included requiring the higher insurance limits for all stages of a ride.
UNLICENSED E-HAIL APP CHALLENGES UBER
An unlicensed e-hail app is challenging Uber. Gothamist reported:
The company, called Empower, markets itself as a pro-worker platform where drivers pay a $50 monthly fee to use the app. The driver can take home 100% of their fare, which they set themselves. The system leads to cheaper rides for passengers and higher wages for drivers, the company claims.
But Empower is facilitating those rides over the objection of the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, which set up a dedicated website warning New Yorkers not to use the app.
In order for an app-based ride to be legal in the five boroughs, the platform must register for a “base” with the TLC — a facility where cars are dispatched to passengers and operated by the company. Empower doesn’t have one.
The company is supposed to pay a $1,500 application fee to secure the base, and insure each of its vehicles.
Sear said thousands of drivers provide “tens of thousands” of rides in the city through Empower each week. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 88,000 drivers providing more than 4 million rides a week for Uber and Lyft, but Sear says the app giants have taken notice.
“I’ve spoken with board members of Uber,” said Sear. “ This is an existential threat to their business, and they are going to do everything in their power, bribe every official they can, influence anyone, pull every lever they can to stop drivers from working for themselves.
Uber did not respond to a request for comment on Sear’s claims.
Empower is in ongoing civil litigation with municipal regulators in Washington, D.C., who took issue with the company’s launch in the district without approval. A judge ruled the company and Sear be held in contempt of court after they kept offering rides. Court documents show that Empower is appealing that contempt order.
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