This Week in Rideshare: Groceries, Carjackings and Robots.
Uber expands delivery, carjackings plague rideshare, and Lyft deploys AVs. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 7/19/21
As gig workers stay lukewarm on returning, gig companies are getting creative. Yahoo! Finance explains:
McDonald’s (MCD) recently became the latest to offer sweeteners to potential new hires. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Golden Arches is proposing benefits like child care and tuition assistance, in addition to higher hourly wages.
Uber is considering funding education and career-building programs, The Journal recently reported. A spokesperson for Uber, which declined to comment, pointed to the company’s April announcement to provide a $250 million stimulus to drivers.
TUESDAY 7/20/21
Uber’s grocery service is expanding. CNET reported:
Uber is expanding its grocery delivery services to more than 400 cities across the country, the ride-sharing company said Monday. Areas in San Francisco, New York City and Washington D.C. can now order on-demand or scheduled grocery deliveries from Uber.
The announcement comes as Uber partners with 1,200 Albertsons-owned stores, like Safeway, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Tom Thumb and Randalls. With the expansion, Uber says, all grocery orders over $30 will get free delivery for Uber Pass and Eat Pass customers.
WEDNESDAY 7/21/21
In a demand for better working conditions, rideshare drivers went on strike Wednesday. The Guardian reported:
The workers are calling for better wages and congressional support of the Pro Act, a bill that would provide protections for workers who attempt to unionize, including members of the gig economy. The bill has stalled indefinitely after passing in the US House in March.
“App-based workers are fed up with exploitation from big tech companies,” said Eve Aruguete a driver from Oakland and member of organizing group Rideshare Drivers United. “Misclassification is like concrete, keeping us underground. The Pro Act is the jackhammer that will break that concrete apart, allowing app-based workers to organize.”
THURSDAY 7/22/21
Carjackings continue to cause serious problems for the rideshare community. The Markup reported:
“Is this where you wanna go? It’s dark,” Norman asked the men, according to a police report.
“B**ch, this is a carjacking, get out,” the man in the passenger seat replied. Then he punched her in the face.
Norman is just one of at least 124 ride-hail and delivery drivers who’ve been carjacked in the U.S. over the last year and a half, according to an analysis by The Markup.
Bryant Greening, an attorney and co-founder of Chicago-based LegalRideshare, said he gets calls from drivers who’ve been carjacked on a weekly basis. He said Uber’s and Lyft’s apps are set up in a way that can assist potential carjackers.
“By allowing people to use fake names and not upload pictures of themselves, they give criminals a level of anonymity that makes them feel comfortable committing the crime,” he said.
FRIDAY 7/23/21
Lyft is eyeing more AVs in the future. KCBY reported:
The service using Ford vehicles and a driving system developed by Pittsburgh-based Argo AI will begin in Miami later this year and start in Austin, Texas, in 2022. It will start with human backup drivers and go fully autonomous at an unspecified date.
The cars will gather data to lay the groundwork to deploy 1,000 robotaxis on the Lyft network in multiple markets during the next five years, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.
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.
