Ride-hailing giant Uber is in talks to team up with rival Waymo on driverless cars, says CEO May 31, 2018 Ride-hailing firm Uber is now in talks with Alphabet’s autonomous driving firm Waymo on a possible future together using Uber’s taxi app despite its previous rivalry, its CEO said last night. Speaking at a conference in the US, Dara Khosrowshahi said that Uber’s relationship with Waymo has been improving since the outcome of a legal [...]
Daimler takes stake in Uber rival Taxify as cab-hailing app reaches $1bn unicorn status May 30, 2018 Uber rival Taxify has reached unicorn status thanks to the completion of $175m funding round led by vehicle giant Daimler. Uber’s European rival is now valued at $1bn following the round which also involved TMT Investments, European venture capital fund Korelya Capital, TransferWise’s co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and Chinese taxi-hailing app Didi Chuxing. In acquiring a [...]
Police seize bitcoins from criminal hacker in first case of its kind May 25, 2018 Police have seized around half a million pounds worth of bitcoin from a “prolific” hacker in the first case of its kind for the Met. Grant West was responsible for attacks on more than 100 companies worldwide, obtaining the financial data of tens of thousands of people though phishing scams, which he would then sell [...]
Uber sets up new tech hub in Paris focusing on artificial intelligence and flying taxis May 24, 2018 Uber’s flying taxi plans are well and truly taking off. The company announced this morning that it will be building a new advanced technologies centre in Paris for research focused on its flying taxi Uber Elevate project. The research and development hub will be its first outside of North America, and over the next five [...]
Uber to offer drivers medical cover and maternity pay as it gears up for court hearing on its future in London May 23, 2018 Uber is introducing a number of protections for its European drivers including sickness, and maternity and paternity payments, as it gears up for a crunch decision on its future in London. The company lost its licence to operate in the capital last September with Transport for London (TfL) ruling it not fit and proper to [...]
Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden becomes latest to leave the ride-hailing app May 18, 2018 The chief product officer and front man for Uber’s flying taxi plans Jeff Holden is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Holden, who joined the company in 2014 after leaving Groupon, has been at the forefront of Uber’s new project Elevate and his resignation comes at a bad time for the project that now [...]
Khan faces calls to make London third launch city of Uber’s flying taxi programme May 16, 2018 London mayor Sadiq Khan is being urged to nominate the capital as the third city in the world to take part in Uber’s eye-catching flying taxi programme. UberAIR, as it will be known, has already picked Dallas and Los Angeles as its first two potential launch cities, and now City Hall is under pressure to [...]
Uber appoints Amazon guruJamie Heywood as regional manager of northern and eastern Europe May 14, 2018 Uber has poached Amazon’s director of electronics as its new regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe as the management shakeups continue. Jamie Heywood will join Uber next month to take on the role that covers its operations in more than 70 cities and 12 countries, including the UK. The role was previously held [...]
Protectionism and trade barriers aren’t just bad economics – they’re also immoral May 10, 2018 On Wednesday, Paul Ormerod argued in City A.M. that the economic effects of Donald Trump’s proposed protectionism were likely to be minimal. In doing so, he missed a crucial chance to champion the economic, social, and even moral benefits of free trade. There is near consensus among economists that free trade generates more wealth than [...]
Digital Innovators: three market transforming companies leading business into the world of tomorrow May 9, 2018 Technology has become one of the main driving forces of the world economy, allowing businesses to become more productive and efficient, and helping to create new types of jobs. Data analytics and machine learning mean that artificial-intelligence powered devices are becoming faster and smarter, able to solve all sorts of problems and tasks. These three [...]