Thursday, March 28

Tag: Taxi aggregator

Uber Resumes Driverless Car Programme After Crash in Arizona
News, USA

Uber Resumes Driverless Car Programme After Crash in Arizona

Driverless vehicles operated by Uber Technologies Inc were back on the road in San Francisco on Monday after one of its self-driving cars crashed in Arizona, the ride-hailing company said. Uber's autonomous vehicles in Arizona and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, remained grounded but were expected to be operating again soon, according to a spokeswoman for the company, who refused to be identified. "We are resuming our development operations in San Francisco this morning," she said in an email. Uber's San Francisco program is currently in development mode. It has two cars registered with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, but is not transporting passengers. The spokeswoman said because of this, the company felt confident in putting the cars back on the road while it investig...
Uber Stalls India Leasing Scheme as Driver Incomes Drop – Sources
News

Uber Stalls India Leasing Scheme as Driver Incomes Drop – Sources

Global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies is rethinking its car leasing strategy in India, its second-biggest market, as drivers have returned dozens of leased cars early after the company cut incentives, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Uber had planned to buy 15,000 new cars last year and lease them out in a bid to attract more drivers - a strategy it has used in other markets - but it suspended the scheme for a while in December after leasing just a third of that total. After burning through millions of dollars over three years in a battle for market share with local rival Ola, backed by Japan's Softbank , Uber has cut the incentives it gives to drivers and raised the fares it charges passengers. The incentives - from free smartphones to cash bonuses worth as much...
Uber Admit To Use Its Secret Software Greyball To Deceive Local Authorities
News

Uber Admit To Use Its Secret Software Greyball To Deceive Local Authorities

Uber has acknowledged the use of a secret software program to steer drivers away from trouble, including sting operations by local authorities to catch law-breakers. In the latest in a streak of damaging news for the ridesharing giant, Uber came forward about its "Greyball" software yesterday after a New York Times report which said the program aimed to deceive authorities in markets around the world. According to an Uber statement, the tool was used in cities where it was not banned from operating, and the main intent was to protect drivers from disruption by competitors using the smartphone application to interfere instead of summon legitimate rides. "This program denies ride requests to fraudulent users who are violating our terms of service," an Uber spokesperson said in an...
Reliance Clarifies No plans to Launch App Based Taxi Service
News

Reliance Clarifies No plans to Launch App Based Taxi Service

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has no plans to launch an app-based taxi service as the company sees no logic in diversifying into unrelated sectors. It has been speculated for months that Reliance Jio, the company's telecom venture that has created ripples by signing up 100 million customers in just 170 days of launch, will soon launch a taxi service. The company had not commented on the speculations so far but took to the Twitter to deny the foray after an online publication stated that Jio has ordered some 600 cars to "kickstart" the service. A Reliance spokesperson tweeted that the report is "WRONG and DENIED". The company has no plans to get into unrelated diversification , another official explained. Reliance Jio had earlier this week announced a strategic ...
Uber Ties Up With Bangalore Metro
News

Uber Ties Up With Bangalore Metro

Global taxi-hailing platform Uber said it has partnered with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) across 12 metro stations to provide last mile connectivity to everyday commuters. Consumers can avail the service through exclusive Uber booking counters at metro stations, Uber said in a statement. It said Uber representatives will also be available at these counters to ensure metro commuters get a reliable and affordable ride to their next destination. Uber booking counters at Metro stations will be available by end of March 2017. "This partnership is a great example of how the public and private transport can work together and complement each other's strengths in order to help solve major issues that citizens face, in this case, last mile connectivity," Uber (Bengal...
Jugnoo the Auto-Rickshaw Aggregator Announced its Entry Into Taxi Aggregation Business
News

Jugnoo the Auto-Rickshaw Aggregator Announced its Entry Into Taxi Aggregation Business

Founded in late 2014 by a bunch of IITans,Jugnoo, the auto-rickshaw aggregator, announced its entry into the taxi aggregation business on Sunday to take on other Taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber. Apart from Taxi aggregator, Jugnoo also entered the market as an hyperlocal businesses food and grocery delivery service. As per the company, they are awaiting the right moment to enter into taxi aggregation business for some time. Launched as a pilot in Gurugram, Jugnoo intends to soon expand into other cities. "Jugnoo’s strategy to diversify its offerings and enter into the business vertical comes at a time when drivers are looking for an alternative to resolve their earnings and incentive issues," the company said in a press release. Beginning its operations in November 2014, Jugnoo ...
Ola Hires Pranav Tiwari, Sanjay Kharb to Lead Its Engineering Operation
News

Ola Hires Pranav Tiwari, Sanjay Kharb to Lead Its Engineering Operation

Transportation app Ola today said it has roped in two new executives, Pranav Tiwari and Sanjay Kharb, to strengthen its core technology leadership. Tiwari, former CTO of Cellworks, has joined Ola as Vice President of Engineering and will work towards optimising growth and profitability by bringing in necessary efficiencies in the supply chain function, Ola said in a statement. An ex-Googler, he has over 35 patents in his name. Under him, the team will focus on building solutions that effectively optimise use of vehicles on the platform, reduce deviations in routes and improve customer-driver matching. Kharb, who was earlier VP Production Engineering at InMobi, has joined as Vice President of Engineering Infrastructure and will strengthen efficiencies in Ola's technology infrastruct...
Uber CEO Quits Trump’s Business Advisory Group
News

Uber CEO Quits Trump’s Business Advisory Group

Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit President Donald Trump's business advisory group on Thursday amid mounting pressure from activists and employees who oppose the administration's immigration policies. Critics included Uber drivers, many of whom are immigrants themselves. "Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that," Kalanick, who had planned to attend a meeting of the group on Friday, said in an email to staff that was seen by Reuters. Uber spokeswoman Chelsea Kohler later confirmed that he had left the group. Social media campaigns had targeted Uber, urging users to delete accounts and opt for rival Lyft Inc. Uber has been emailing users who...
Uber to Suspend its Ride-Hailing Service in Taiwan From Feb 10
News

Uber to Suspend its Ride-Hailing Service in Taiwan From Feb 10

Uber Technologies Inc said it will suspend its service in Taiwan from February 10, the latest salvo in the wrangle between the island's authorities and the global ride-hailing service company. Late last year, Taiwan's legislature finalised regulations raising fines against unlicensed ride-sharing services, targeted at Uber, which said at the time that was the highest level for such fines globally. "Today, we are announcing our intention to pause our Taiwan service starting Friday 10th February. We hope that pressing pause will reset the conversation and inspire President Tsai (Ing-wen) to take action," Uber said in a statement on its website. The statement did not specify what action Uber wanted the president to take.
Uber Starts Bike Sharing Service “uberMOTO” in Hyderabad
News

Uber Starts Bike Sharing Service “uberMOTO” in Hyderabad

Cab aggregator Uber today commenced operations of uberMOTO, its bike-sharing product, in Hyderabad. The launch of the product was announced at an event held at T-Hub here last month in the presence of Travis Kalanick, Founder and CEO, and K T Rama Rao, Telangana Cabinet Minister for IT, Industries & Commerce. Driver partners of uberMOTO were taken through a training session on various road safety related topics by representatives from the RTO before starting their first trip, the company said in a statement. Kalanick was quoted as saying, "It's (uberMOTO) a quick, easy and affordable way to get around the city. And it's great to be working with a progressive, forward thinking government like Telangana on smart mobility solutions that can help reduce congestion in urban areas." ...
Ola Appoints Vishal Kaul as Chief Operating Officer
News

Ola Appoints Vishal Kaul as Chief Operating Officer

Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation, today announced the appointment of Vishal Kaul as its Chief Operating Officer. Vishal is a PepsiCo veteran, who has been with the company since the start of his career in 1999. He has held key leadership positions across operations, sales and marketing in his career spanning 18 years within the company. Vishal was most recently the General Manager of PepsiCo Foods for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. As COO, Vishal will head Ola’s operations, strengthen Ola’s market leadership, expand its reach to nooks and corners of the country and widen the base of Ola's customers and driver-partner fraternity, in line with its mission to build mobility for a billion Indians. The mobility opportunity is massive with over 300 million trips happening ...
Ex- Googler Amit Singhal Joins Uber
News

Ex- Googler Amit Singhal Joins Uber

Amit Singhal, the father of google search ranking system now joining Uber as SVP of Engineering. The news itself was published by Amit Singhal on his blog, After 15 wonderful years at Google working on search, I wasn’t sure that I would find an opportunity as exciting or potentially world-changing. But having spent hours with Travis and many others at the company, I can confidently say Uber fits the bill. First and foremost, I am a huge fan of Uber’s product. Like many people, I can’t remember life before you could push a button and have a car show up in minutes. But what’s most exciting to me is the real-world impact this simple idea—push a button, get a ride—is having in cities around the world. Uber’s technology is transforming urban mobility. My children may never need to own ...