Tag Archives: ride-hail

TNC Drivers Fear Losing Work with Miami, Austin Autonomous Vehicle Trials

Phone based GPS in a car at night.Transportation network company (TNC) drivers in Miami say they fear losing their income when 1,000 autonomous cars are launched as ride-hails later this year.

Argo AI, Ford, and Lyft announced they’d trial the self-driving cars in Miami and Austin this winter. Drivers for Lyft and Uber say they’re concerned the autonomous cars will cut their rides, hours, and paychecks.

Florida has one of the highest-used TNC networks in the country, and drivers there say the autonomous vehicles are hitting their routes many years ahead of when they anticipated. And because a driverless “robotaxi” cuts a driver out of the ride-hail equation, they say they fear perhaps losing those jobs completely as more self-driving cars hit the roads.

Read the whole story here.

Daimler, BMW Team Up for Mobility-as-a-Service

Daimler AG and BMW have launched a new brand–NOW–to offer mobility-as-a-service to customers. “We really want to be kind of almost the PayPal of mobility,” said company North American CEO Nat Parker.

The company is split into five segments:

  • REACH NOW offers ticketing and trip planning.
  • SHARE NOW is for car-sharing.
  • FREE NOW offers ride-hailing.
  • PARK NOW provides parking options.
  • CHARGE NOW helps electric-vehicle drivers find charging.

For the moment, the company is focused on the Pacific Northwest; it says it hopes to expand its services by working with nearly 20 U.S. transit agencies. It also hopes to expand in Europe.

Read the whole story here.