How much is at stake in the choice of ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft to keep their drivers as independent contractors instead of making them employees? To understand why the car-summoning app is glad to pay drivers as much as $100 million in a class action settlement, look at the numbers: the company calculates that it would owe drivers $429 million, while drivers’ attorneys estimate that drivers would receive $730 million in expenses, and $122 million in tips. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Company Recalling 180K Pacifiers & Clips Due To Choking Hazard
By 5.9.16
As any parent knows, pacifiers have a way of disappearing from the mouths of babies and winding up lost or coated in a fine layer of yuck under the couch. So clips that tether the soothing devices to their users can be very convenient — as long as all the pieces involved in the clip stay where they should. [More]
Pilgrim’s Pride Expands Recall Of Contaminated Chicken Products
By 5.9.16
If you’ve already checked the list of products affected by a recent Pilgrim’s Pride recall involving chicken items possibly contaminated with bits of plastic, metal, wood, and rubber, you might want to check it again. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety & Inspection service has expanded the nearly five million-pound recall list to include additional products. Check the full list here. [More]
Uber, Lyft Suspend Service In Austin Over Rules Requiring Drivers’ Fingerprints
By 5.9.16
If you’re looking for a ride in Austin you’ll have one less option starting today, after Uber and Lyft suspended operations there over city requirements that include fingerprint-based background checks for all drivers. [More]
Judge: Uber Drivers Aren’t Employees, But Passengers Can Still Sue In Sexual Assault Case
By 5.6.16
Two passengers in different states who were sexually assaulted by Uber drivers are suing the company, and the judge in this case just made an important ruling: drivers’ status as independent contractors rather than employees doesn’t mean that the company can’t be sued for sexual assaults that drivers commit against their passengers. [More]
Is The “Sharing Economy” Sharing Your Data With Law Enforcement?
By 5.5.16
Airbnb and VRBO are shaking up the hospitality industry by letting anyone with a spare room become an innkeeper. Uber and Lyft are disrupting the for-hire car market by letting you turn your car into a taxi. While these new platforms might be opening up the so-called “sharing” economy, some of them may also be a bit too willing to share user data with law enforcement. [More]
GM & Lyft Set To Test Self-Driving Taxis Within A Year
By 5.5.16
It hasn’t taken General Motors long to figure out how to spend its $500 million investment in Lyft. A month after the carmaker said it would use some of those funds to rent SUVs to prospective drivers, the partners unveiled plans to begin testing self-driving taxis on public roads in California. [More]
Apple’s App Store Is Having Some Serious Issues Finding Popular Apps Right Now
By 5.5.16
UPDATE: As of about noon on the east coast, the App Store seems to have sorted itself out. I was able to search for Tidal and actually get the music app, instead of an app to track the tide. [More]
Takata Ordered To Recall Up To 40 Million Additional Airbags
By 5.4.16
Hours after reports began swirling that federal regulators were poised to more than double the already massive Takata airbag inflator recall at some point this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it had amended a previous order and directed the Japanese parts maker to add 35 to 40 million additional airbags to the recall list that already includes 28 million shrapnel-shooting airbags. [More]
Deadly Airbag Recall Expected To Grow By Up To 35 Million This Week
By 5.4.16
Takata’s massive airbag inflator recall could more than double this week, as U.S. safety regulators are reportedly poised to announced the addition of 35 million safety devices to the recall list that already includes 28 million shrapnel-shooting airbags. [More]
CRF Frozen Foods Recalls Everything Processed At WA Plant Since May 2014 Due To Possible Listeria
By 5.3.16
Last week, we learned that vegetables produced by CRF Frozen foods and sold under national and store brands had been recalled due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a dangerous foodborne pathogen. The company expanded the recall to include all frozen fruits and vegetables processed at its plant in Pasco, WA since May of 2014. That includes 358 different varieties of frozen fruits and veggies sold under 42 brand names sold in all 50 states. It’s a lot of food. [More]
Google & Fiat Chrysler Rumored To Be Working On Driverless Minivans Together
By 5.3.16
Taking the kids to soccer practice in the future might still involve minivans, but mom and dad won’t necessarily be driving them. Rumor has it that Fiat Chrysler and Google are teaming up to develop an autonomous vehicle based on the carmaker’s Pacifica minivans. [More]
Dole Found Listeria In Salad Processing Plant As Far Back As 2014, Kept Shipping Veggies
By 5.2.16
Is it a crime for a company or its representatives to keep on shipping food products that may be dangerous to the public if they know that the items may be contaminated? Dole’s Springfield, OH processing plant has started shipping salad again, but new evidence shows that the company kept shipping lettuce even as it was aware of Listeria contamination in the building as far back as 2014. [More]
Uber, Blind Passengers Reach Settlement In Lawsuit Over Service Animals
By 5.2.16
More than a year after the National Federation of the Blind of California filed a lawsuit accusing Uber drivers of discriminating against passengers waiting for rides with service animals, the two sides announced they’ve reached a settlement. [More]
Nissan Recalls 3.7M Vehicles Over Airbag issues
By 5.2.16
Two years after recalling 1 million vehicles because of faulty airbags, and a year after federal regulators questioned whether that fix had worked, Nissan is giving the whole airbag recall thing another shot: recalling 3.7 million vehicles that contain airbags that might not deploy properly in the event of a crash. [More]
VW’s Emissions-Cheating Scandal Could Cost Carmaker More Than $18B
By 4.28.16
It doesn’t pay to cheat. That’s the moral of Volkswagen’s ongoing emissions-cheating scandal after the carmaker announced Thursday that its tab for fixing vehicles, compensating owners, and paying fines to federal regulators in the U.S. could exceed the $18 billion previously earmarked to address the scandal. [More]
You Now Might Have To Pay Extra If You Keep Your Uber Waiting
By 4.27.16
Just like you might get annoyed when you have to wait too long for your Uber driver, that driver might be losing money for all the time you dawdle inside because you weren’t ready to be picked up. That’s why the service is testing a new policy that allows drivers to tack on a fee if a passenger keeps them waiting for more than two minutes. [More]
VW Exec Created A Power Point Presentation On How To Cheat Emissions Tests In 2006
By 4.27.16
Back in September, shortly after Volkswagen admitted it had equipped 11 million vehicles worldwide with “defeat devices” in order to evade emissions tests, an internal investigation found that some employees of the carmaker knew of the illegal software in 2011. But, according to a new report, at least one person with the company knew how to cheat emissions tests in 2006, and that person allegedly created a study guide of sorts to share his information. [More]
