Uber announced Wednesday evening that it has pulled the plug on its controversial self-driving car program in San Francisco after only one very contentious week of operation. [More]
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Uber Wants To Drive You To People Now, Not Just Places
By 12.21.16
Can’t remember what restaurant your friends said to meet you at? Forget if that’s South Main Street or North Main Street? Too far along in the evening’s entertainments to dial your phone and ask? Uber is now happy to figure out where you’re supposed to be going by taking you directly to your friends. [More]
Philly Uber Customer Surprised By Attempted $28,639.14 Charge
By 12.20.16
You would probably remember taking a ride long enough to cost tens of thousands of dollars. So one Uber customer was more than a little surprised to find her bank flagging and blocking a $28,639.14 charge from the ride-hailing company. [More]
Uber Admits Its Self-Driving Cars Have A Problem Handling Bike Lanes
By 12.20.16
The rules of the road don’t just cover cars — there are conveyances of the two-wheeled variety out there as well. Considering many human drivers don’t understand how to share the streets with bicycles, it’s somewhat unsurprising that Uber is admitting that its autonomous vehicles are having a hard time dealing with them as well. [More]
Uber Claims It Doesn’t Need California’s Permission For Self-Driving Cars
By 12.16.16 — Updated: 12.20.16
The public slapfight between Uber and the California Department of Motor Vehicles continued on Friday afternoon, with the ridesharing service declaring that it’s new self-driving cars don’t need a special permit to operate in San Francisco. [More]
Self-Driving Ubers Run Red Lights In San Francisco; Company Blames Humans
By 12.15.16
You know those self-driving SUVs that Uber has unleashed on San Francisco? The ones that the state of California says are illegal and wants off the roads, since the company didn’t seek approval yet? Yesterday, others on the roads noticed one of the vehicles running a red light, which Uber blames on the car’s human operator. [More]
California Says Self-Driving Uber Cars In San Francisco “Illegal”
By 12.15.16
Yesterday, Uber announced that it is now offering rides in self-driving vehicles for users in San Francisco — an announcement that apparently came as a surprise to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has advised the ridesharing service that it is breaking the law by operating this autonomous cars without DMV approval. [More]
You Can Now Hail A Self-Driving Uber In San Francisco
By 12.14.16
If you want to hail a ride in San Francisco, but don’t want to deal with that pesky “talking to the driver” thing, Uber has good news for you. The ridesharing service has expanded its fleet of autonomous vehicles-for-hire to its home market. [More]
“Security As An Afterthought:” 3 Frightening Privacy Claims From Former Uber Staffers
By 12.12.16
Even if you’re a fan of Uber’s service, it’s often difficult to not take issue with the company’s short history of: disregarding taxi regulations, having questionable screening procedures for drivers, taking a casual approach to customer privacy, and forbidding both its employees and users from bringing lawsuits. Now, several former Uber security staffers are pulling back the veil on what they see as problems at the hugely popular ridesharing service. [More]
What Does It Take To Get Banned From Riding With Uber?
By 12.8.16
We’ve heard some horror stories in the past about Uber drivers dealing with no good, very bad, and otherwise terrible riders, but now we know exactly what kinds of awful behavior will get riders banned from the platform forever. [More]
Uber Tracks You Even After Your Ride: Invasion Of Privacy Or Necessary?
By 12.7.16
Obviously Uber needs your location to send a car to pick you up, and obviously the service tracks your location during the ride to make sure you get where you’re going. But why does Uber now continue to follow you for five minutes after your ride ends? [More]
Fast Food, Airport, And Health Care Workers Stage Nationwide Walkout
By 11.29.16
The threatened strike of low-paid workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport didn’t happen at Thanksgiving time as originally proposed, but did occur today as part of a nationwide series of strikes. In some cities, protesters blocking public streets were arrested, but the predicted disruption of air travel at the country’s busiest airports didn’t happen. [More]
Uber: No, We’re Not Going To Sell User Information
By 11.21.16
Late last week, Twitter began to light up with claims that Uber had changed its terms of service to give the company the right to to modify and sell users’ data — not a minor concern for any privacy-minded consumer. However, Uber points out that the specific clause at the center of this mini-controversy is not new, not unique to the ride-hailing service, and doesn’t give the company that god-like authority some people are claiming. [More]
Woman Drives To Uber HQ To Get Account Issue Resolved Instead Of Waiting For Emailed Responses
By 11.14.16
When you’ve got a problem that needs fixing and it’s not getting fixed fast enough, what’s an intrepid consumer to do? One woman who had an issue with her family’s Uber account was tired of waiting for customer service to email her back, so she hopped in her car and took a trip — actually, two trips — to visit Uber in person. [More]
Family Takes $362 Uber Ride Home From Dallas Cowboys Game
By 11.10.16
It cost a family about $40 to ride in an UberXL vehicle from their suburban home to AT&T Stadioum, where the Dallas Cowboys play. That’s not bad at all, and they didn’t have to worry about parking. The problem came on their return trip, when the driver took a strange detour to the wrong side of their suburb, and the trip ended up costing $362.81. [More]
Uber Driver Charged With Raping Unconscious Teenage Passenger
By 11.10.16
An Uber driver in Laguna Beach, CA has been arrested and charged with raping an unconscious 17-year-old passenger in the back seat of his car. [More]
It’s Obviously Delightful When The “You’ve Got Mail” Guy Is Your Uber Driver
By 11.7.16
There are few certainties in this world — we live, we die, that’s about it — but one thing is for sure: if the voice behind AOL’s “You’ve got mail!” greeting is your Uber driver, you’re gonna make him recite those famous words so you can post a video of it on the internet. [More]
Uber, Lyft, Zipcar Offer Free Or Discounted Rides To Polls On Election Day
By 11.7.16
Election Day is nearly here, and millions of Americans will head to their respective polling places on Tuesday. You might be able to drive, walk, bike, or jetpack to your voting site, but for those who need a ride (or just a car), a handful of companies are offering free or discounted options. [More]
