All posts tagged: ride sharing

Lyft’s CEO Says, ‘We’re the Good Uber’

Published by skeptic

Three Years AGO, Lyft was floundering. The perpetual also-ran to Uber was in danger of being run off the road entirely. The founders were in charge, and in March 2023, they hired former Microsoft and Amazon executive David Risher to turn things around. The new CEO has expanded its service in other countries, made deals with Waymo and Nvidia, lowered ride cancellations, and paid drivers more. Just this week, Lyft announced that customers in New York would also see taxis among their options. The company now reports a profit—but it’s still deep in second place in ride-sharing, and its stock has been down this year. I recently spoke to Risher on Lyft’s prospects, his jaundiced view of Uber, and his plans to manage fleets of autonomous cars owned by tech companies or civilians. STEVEN LEVY: Where are you on your turnaround mission? DAVID RISHER: When I came in, we were losing share—Lyft was 26 or 27 percent compared to the other guy. We were losing money, $300 million a year. Things were not looking good. …

Uber is buying Berlin startup Blacklane to bolster its ‘Elite’ offering

Published by skeptic

Uber is buying Berlin-based startup Blacklane, which provides on-demand, black-car chauffeur services, as the ride-hail giant expands deeper into luxury and executive travel services. It’s a notable exit for Blacklane, which was founded in 2011 and has raised more than $100 million to date from rental car company Sixt, Mercedes-Benz, and ALFAHIM, a conglomerate in the UAE. Uber said the acquisition still needs regulatory approvals, but expects it to close by the end of this year. The two companies didn’t disclose financial terms of the deal. The acquisition comes just a few weeks after Uber announced the launch of Uber Elite, which combines a chauffeur service with a number of luxury offerings like in-vehicle amenities, airport meet-and-greets, and 24/7 phone support. Uber Elite is starting small, in just Los Angeles and San Francisco, with New York City on the horizon. Blacklane operates in major cities across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and North America. Source link

New Data Shows Robotaxis Competing on Price—and Speed

Published by skeptic

In San Francisco, people wanting to get from point A to point B have a few fairly unique options. There’s Uber and Lyft, both headquartered in the area and also available around the world. Then there’s Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary, providing driverless rides in just a handful of US cities (coming to more places this year). Then, starting last fall, Bay Area denizens also got access to electric automaker Tesla’s ride-hail service, which operates as a “robotaxi” in Texas but as a more traditional service, with drivers behind the wheel, in California. For months, the new and futuristic “robotaxi” services felt like a novelty. Tourists gawked and climbed in for joy rides, but Waymo tended to be slower and more expensive than the human-driven alternatives. Now new data and analysis from the ride-hail price aggregator company Obi finds that the novel services’ prices and wait times are getting more competitive in the Bay Area. It could be a sign that the tech is moving closer to its promise to provide cheaper and widely-available rides—which might …