No matter how hard a company works to ensure its secure its product is, someone, somewhere can find a security flaw in it that leaves it wide open to hackers. For these reasons, several organizations have sought the services of white-hat hackers to test for weaknesses in their networks and websites. Today, Uber joined that growing list of companies. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Toyota Promises Automatic Braking Will Be Standard In Most Models By 2017
By 3.22.16
Just days after automakers and federal regulators reached a deal that would make forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking standard in vehicles by 2022, Toyota says it’ll do one better — make these safety features standard years ahead of schedule.
[More]
Nissan Expands Rogue SUV Recall Over Fuel Pump Issues
By 3.21.16
Nearly a year after Nissan recalled 76,000 Rogue SUVs because the fuel pump could fail, leading the vehicle to stall, the carmaker is expanding the safety initiative to include almost 47,000 additional cars. [More]
Attorneys: Lyft Would Owe Drivers An Extra $126M If They Were Employees
By 3.21.16
In a class action against the company, drivers for ride-hailing service Lyft won two important things: the right to not be removed from the service without being told why, and a $12.25 million settlement. The interesting thing about that figure, though, is that the lawyers’ own research shows that being given “employee” status would mean that drivers were owed an average of $835 each, or a total of $126 million for just the employees in California. [More]
Uber Objects To Atlanta Airport’s Plan For Driver Background Checks, Fare Fees
By 3.18.16
The next time you need a ride at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, it’s not likely going to be an Uber driver who picks you up. The ride-share company has balked at the airport’s proposal that would require Uber and Lyft drivers to get fingerprint-based background checks, as well as impose fees on every fare. [More]
FBI To Carmakers, Owners: Your Vehicles Are “Increasingly Vulnerable” To Hackings
By 3.18.16
Nearly a year after the very public hacking of a Jeep that eventually led to the recall of more than 1.4 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles, federal law enforcement and vehicles safety officials are warning carmakers and owners that their vehicles are “increasingly vulnerable” to hackings. [More]
Uber Will Now Take You From San Diego To Tijuana, Won’t Bring You Back
By 3.17.16
Want a one-way ticket to Tijuana? You can get one from Uber now: the ride-hailing company is providing cross-border trips from San Diego to the Mexican city. There’s one catch, though – passengers have to find their own way home. [More]
Automatic Emergency Braking To Be Standard In Cars By 2022
By 3.16.16
A number of cars being sold today already have forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking as available optional safety features, but automakers and federal regulators have reached a deal that will make these features standard in almost every car sold in the U.S. by 2022. [More]
Tesla To Start Pre-Orders For $35,000 Model 3 March 31
By 3.16.16
Let’s be honest, most of us don’t have $100,000-plus just sitting around to join the fairly exclusive Tesla owners’ club. But in about a week we’ll only need a fraction of that bundle of cash: Tesla reconfirmed its plans to introduce the more economically priced Model 3 on March 31. [More]
Uber Now Allows You To Add 10 People To One Account With “Family Profiles”
By 3.16.16
Acknowledging that some Uber customers are using their account to hail rides for people other than themselves, the ride-sharing service has announced a “Family Profile” option that lets multiple Uber passengers bill to the same credit card. [More]
Maserati Recalls 28,000 Cars Because Floor Mats Shouldn’t Drive Your Vehicle
By 3.15.16
If you’re one of the few lucky (we suppose) people who own a vehicle by Italian luxury carmaker Maserati, listen up: the company is recalling more than 28,000 Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans that can simply run away from drivers. [More]
Police: Lyft Driver Drove Drunk With Passenger In The Car
By 3.15.16
When you’ve had a bit too much to drink to get behind the wheel, you might get a cab or have Uber or Lyft pick you up. But police in Austin say one Lyft driver could’ve used a ride himself, after arresting him for allegedly driving while drunk with a passenger in his back seat. [More]
UberEATS Launches As A Standalone App Offering Restaurant Delivery In 5 Cities
By 3.15.16
Uber is stepping outside the bounds of its main app for the first time, launching its UberEATS service as a standalone app for restaurant delivery starting in five of the cities where it operates. [More]
GM Will Rent Cars To Lyft Drivers For $99/Week
By 3.15.16
If you were wondering what General Motors planned to do with its $500 million investment in ride-sharing service Lyft, you might have an answer; or at least part of one. The carmaker will now rent out Chevy Equinox SUVs to prospective drivers who lack the all-important piece of the ride-sharing puzzle: a set of wheels. [More]
VW Allegedly Deleted Info Related To “Defeat Devices” In Violation Of Federal Order
By 3.14.16
Volkswagen employees allegedly deleted data related to the company’s use of so-called “defeat devices” for three days after federal regulators ordered the company to preserve the information for a future investigation, a former worker claims in a lawsuit against the company. [More]
Nissan Recalls 47,000 Leaf Electric Vehicles Over Braking Concerns
By 3.14.16
Less than month after Nissan found a security flaw in an app owners can use to control some aspects of its Leaf electric vehicles, the car company says it found another, more serious, issue: the brakes on the cars can malfunction, increasing the risk of crashes. [More]
Uber Now Has An 800-Number For Non-Emergency Situations
By 3.11.16
Since Uber began shuttling people from one place to another with the tap of an app, we’ve heard stories about rides gone wrong — assaults, harassment, and hostage situations — that often end with the customer having a difficult time reaching an actual human working for the ride-hailing company. That’s apparently changed, as the company quietly issued an phone number for passengers to contact them back in October. [More]
General Motors Acquires Self-Driving Car Startup
By 3.11.16
Two months after General Motors unveiled a $500 million investment in Lyft, the mustachioed ride-hailing service, with the hopes of one day providing the masses with rides in a self-driving fleet, the carmaker has taken a step that might help it realize that goal: acquiring self-driving vehicle startup Cruise Automation. [More]
