Tesla gets sued, Uber’s festering problem and we speak on safety. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
TESLA SHAREHOLDERS SUE COMPANY
Tesla gets sued. Teslarati reported:
On Monday night, a group of shareholders sued Tesla and Musk in a proposed class action lawsuit in Texas federal court. They claim Tesla misled investors about the safety of the vehicles used in the Robotaxi rollout in Austin, which started on June 22.
The suit indicates that videos show the vehicles “speeding, exhibiting sudden braking, driving over a curb, entering the wrong lane, and dropping passengers off in the middle of multilane roads.” Reuters first reported on the lawsuit.
UBER’S SEXUAL ASSAULT PROBLEM
Uber has a sexual assault problem. The New York Times reported:
Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed.
Inside Uber, teams of data scientists and safety experts spent years studying the problem. The company tested tools that proved effective at making trips safer, including sophisticated matching algorithms, mandatory video recording and pairing female passengers with female drivers.
Still, Uber delayed or did not require its drivers to adopt some of the most promising programs, nor did it warn passengers about factors it linked to attacks, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, internal documents and court records. Hundreds of the records have been under seal as part of large-scale sexual assault litigation against Uber.
Uber’s decisions about safety came as it prioritized growing its user base, avoiding costly lawsuits and protecting its business model, which classifies drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, the records show.
From 2017 to 2022, a total of 400,181 Uber trips resulted in reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct in the United States, court documents show. Previously, the company had disclosed 12,522 accounts of serious sexual assaults for that same time period, without indicating the total number of sexual assault and sexual misconduct reports it received.
Uber has not released data for the years since then, though the court records indicate reports of incidents have increased.
LEGALRIDESHARE TALKS ABOUT SAFETY
LegalRideshare co-founder & lead attorney Bryant Greening talks about safety. The New York Times reported:
Many riders, both in the article and in the comments section, said they had followed safety tips like those previously shared by The Times, such as making sure the license plate matched what appeared on the app. Even though these tips remain valid, many riders still found themselves in uncomfortable or unsafe situations, leading to questions about what safety practices they should adopt.
“A lot of the old rules still apply,” said Bryant Greening, a lawyer who works with accident and assault victims and is a co-founder of the Chicago-based law firm Legalrideshare.com. But, he added, many ride-hailing apps have added more safety features that can help mitigate your personal risk.
Here are additional things to know about staying safe when using app-based ride services.
Most ride-hailing apps now offer a feature to share your trip with someone outside the car, Mr. Greening said. On the Uber app, this is called “Share My Trip,” and it allows riders to select up to five people from their contact lists with whom to share their trip details as well as their real-time location.
“If you’re in a car with somebody who’s giving you any sort of bad vibe, and you make a casual comment saying, ‘My wife is following the trip on the app,’ that’s going to provide some level of deterrence, some level of accountability,” Mr. Greening said.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, robotaxis, Waymo, and gig worker accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.