Self-Driving Truck Company Aurora Launches Pilot With Uber Freight

Aurora said it began autonomously transporting loads for Uber Freight customers between Dallas and Houston last week. The company plans to launch its commercial autonomous trucking business by the end of 2023, starting in Texas. Uber is an investor in Aurora after the self-driving company bought Uber’s autonomous vehicle unit ATG last year and Uber acquired a 26% ownership interest in Aurora. Uber Freight is a platform that acts as a middleman in connecting shippers who need goods hauled with available truck drivers, oftentimes independent contractors in a highly fragmented…

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Lance Armstrong says his investment in Uber ‘saved our family’

Lance Armstrong on escaping a $100 million lawsuit and Uber   19 Hours Ago | 04:11 After Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace cost him millions of dollars in lost endorsements and lawsuit settlements, one thing kept him on his feet: his investment in Uber. “It’s saved our family,” Armstrong told CNBC’s Andrew Sorkin in an interview aired on Thursday. In 2009, the former pro cyclist invested $100,000 in Chris Sacca’s nascent venture capital firm, Lowercase Capital. Armstrong said the bulk of the money went to Uber, which at the time was…

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Uber Fires 20 Employees as Part of Sexual Harassment Investigation

Uber has fired 20 employees in recent months as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the climate and culture at the popular ride-hailing service, the company said Tuesday. The report of the firings initially came from an attorney at the Perkins Coie law firm, which Uber hired to assist in a broader harassment investigation at the company and which made a presentation at the company’s weekly staff meeting Tuesday. The company later said the firings, which included some senior executives, were for sexual harassment, discrimination, unprofessional behavior, retaliation, bullying and…

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Lyft Is Gaining on Uber in the US as It Spends Big for Growth

Visit many of America’s top landmarks, and amid the crowds of tourists, you’ll find hip, young people in pink, mustache T-shirts. This small army, spread across 20 of the largest US cities, has been out in full force since late last year, handing out $50 Lyft ride vouchers to anyone passing by. For those who happen to miss the street teams, Lyft Inc. has been running giant billboards in Times Square and on bus stops around the country. Once a customer signs up, the company keeps them coming back by…

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Ola, Matrix Partners Explicitly Deny Stake Sale to Uber

Bengaluru-based transportation aggregator Ola and its investors Matrix Partners India have categorically denied a report that appeared in DNA on Friday, which alleged that certain investors in Ola plan to sell their stake to Uber. The news report, based on information from an unnamed source alleged that Uber was acquiring stakes of all the investors, including the founders, except SoftBank, with a term sheet likely to be signed by this quarter. “We would like to state that the article, attributed to an ‘unnamed source’ is completely false, misleading, malicious and…

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Uber, Lyft Hitting Los Angeles’ Taxi Industry Hard

Uber and Lyft are eviscerating the taxi industry in Los Angeles three years after they began operating in the city, officials say. Thanks to the ridesharing services, which enable independent drivers to offer rides via a smartphone application, “taxicab service demand indicators have dropped (total trips and dispatch trips) beginning in the second half of 2013 and increasing through 2015,” according to a report by Department of Transportation seen by AFP on Thursday. The number of taxi trips arranged in advance has dropped 42 percent while the total number of…

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