This Week in Rideshare: Drivers, Taxis, and Robots.
Drivers aren’t coming back, taxis get a boost and delivery gets robots. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 7/5/21
The verdict is in: Drivers aren’t coming back. CNBC explains
Former ride-sharing drivers are staying off the road for a variety of reasons.
For many it’s fear of the continued pandemic, which is what made them stop driving in the first place. Currently, less than 50% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
TUESDAY 7/6/21
Surges in fares for Uber and Lyft have made a opportunity for taxis. San Francisco Examiner explains:
Sutter, a 29-year veteran cabbie who didn’t work during the pandemic, estimates he has nearly doubled his business. Joseph Mullins, a driver since 2010 who now works for Yellow Cab, is making over $100 more each day than usual and takes “a customer away from Uber every day, just about.” Multiple people in his cab have noted the high costs of grabbing rideshare cars from downtown toward the west side of The City.
WEDNESDAY 7/7/21
The teenager charged with killing Uber Eats driver Mohammad Anwar was recently sentenced. Fox News reported:
The second teenage girl who pleaded guilty in connection with the brutal death of an Uber Eats driver in Washington D.C., during a botched carjacking was sentenced Tuesday to juvenile detention.
The girl, now 14, will be released from custody when she turns 21, FOX 5 Washington D.C., reported. She was 13 when she and another teen girl attempted to carjack Mohammad Anwar, 66, on March 23 near Nationals Park.
THURSDAY 7/8/21
Looks like Grubhub is getting a Russian-robot makeover. The Verge explains:
Grubhub and Russian self-driving startup Yandex are teaming up to use robots to deliver food on US college campuses. It represents the latest deal that envisions hundreds of six-wheeled self-driving robots that essentially act as roving lunchboxes in cities across the country.
The robot-powered delivery service won’t kick off until this fall when college students return to campus. Yandex, which is often described as Russia’s Google, will operate the robots, as well as handle the entire food delivery process. Grubhub, which has partnerships with over 250 college campuses in the US, will serve as the platform for the delivery transactions.
FRIDAY 7/9/21
After a DoorDash driver was arrested, the police officer actually completed the order. Fox 5 reported:
The officer peered inside and told the woman that she did not need to get up, however, he did inform her that her food delivery driver had been arrested and he was just completing the delivery.
“You’re Sherry? Alright, your DoorDash guy got arrested, so I brought your food to you,” the officer is heard saying in the video.
“Alright! Thank you, you’re awesome,” the woman inside the house replied as the officer laughed.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries.
