Latest Sharing Economy Headlines
All the headlines from our Sharing Economy Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Waymo’s First Driverless Car Service Seen Right Around the Corner
Nov 13 2018 // In just a few weeks, humanity may take its first paid ride into the age of driverless cars. Waymo, the secretive subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is planning to launch the world’s first...
Airbnb Generates $1.1M in Wyoming Taxes, 56k Visitor Stays
Nov 13 2018 // Online hospitality company Airbnb says its hosts generated about $1.1 million in tax revenue during the first year of its agreement with the state of Wyoming. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that Airbnb started...
Airbnb Will No Longer Require Arbitration for Employee Bias and Harassment Claims
Nov 13 2018 // Airbnb Inc., following Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., said it would not force employees who filed sexual harassment claims to settle those cases in private arbitration. Airbnb also...
Uber and Lyft Could Reach 31M Trips in Seattle This Year
Nov 9 2018 // The two ridesharing giants provided more than 91,000 rides in the Seattle, Wash. area on an average day in the second quarter of this year. The Seattle Times reports Uber and Lyft are on pace to provide more than 31...
Uber Asks to Resume Self-Driving Tests in Penn., Improves Vehicle Software
Nov 5 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc has asked Pennsylvania for permission to resume self-driving car testing on public roads and has improved the autonomous vehicle software, the company said on Friday, more than seven months after it...
Winning, Sharing, Trusting, Failing, Losing: 10 Insuretech Connect Takeaways
Nov 5 2018 // Pulling together some loose threads from October’s Insuretech Connect Conference, here are 10 takeaways: Innovation Rap. “I actually feel the industry gets a bad rap in terms of innovation,” Dan Glaser,...
Uber Court Case in London Could Determine Future of UK’s Gig Economy
Oct 30 2018 // Just months after Uber Technologies Inc. persuaded a London judge to allow it to keep operating in the city, the ride-hailing company is back in court. At stake this time is an issue that could strike at the core of the...
GM Hitting Bumps on $5 Billion Road to Driverless Cars by 2019
Oct 25 2018 // It’s one of the biggest bets going in the world of cars. Since May, General Motors Co. and its Cruise self-driving car unit have landed $5 billion in investment commitments from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and...
Uber Driver Charged with Kidnapping New York Woman
Oct 18 2018 // An Uber driver in New York City kidnapped a woman who fell asleep in his vehicle, groped her in the back seat and then left her on the side of a highway in Connecticut, federal authorities said Tuesday. Harbir Parmar, 24,...
Softbank Plans Big Push into Insurance Investments
Oct 16 2018 // Softbank’s Vision Fund plans to pump more money into insurance, a sector it sees as both ripe for disruption and a potential booster for its bigger bets in cars, health and financial services, a Vision Fund executive...
Relax, Uber’s Not Interested in Entering Insurance Business
Oct 15 2018 // While it is weighing providing benefits and insurance to its independent contractor drivers, ridesharing giant Uber is not interested in getting into the insurance business itself. Rather, the global transportation firm is...
UK Self-Driving Startup Oxbotica Appoints Former Uber Executive to Board
Oct 10 2018 // Oxbotica, a U.K. startup whose self-driving vehicle software will help guide the European Space Agency’s Mars rover, has appointed former Uber executive Fraser Robinson to its board. Robinson served as the...
Autonomous Driving Hype Now at ‘Peak Absurdity,’ Claims Auto Dealer Group Leader
Oct 10 2018 // The auto industry is a long way from seeing autonomous vehicles and ride-hailing companies put an end to traffic deaths and personal car ownership, according to one of the top U.S. auto dealers. “We have reached peak...
Uber Conducting Background Checks on Colorado Drivers Under Settlement
Oct 4 2018 // Uber has implemented a number of safety measures, including annual background checks on its drivers in Colorado, as part of a proposed settlement with the state. The Denver Post reports the Colorado Public Utilities...
OptOn Offering On-Demand Insurance for Illinois Rideshare Drivers
Oct 4 2018 // OptOn has launched its mobile, on-demand, commercial insurance product for rideshare drivers in Illinois. The company said the mobile app provides short-term primary insurance coverage for rideshare drivers across all...
Marsh Develops Blockchain Solution for Clients in Sharing Economy
Oct 3 2018 // Marsh announced that it is developing the first blockchain-based verification solution for clients in the fast-growing sharing and gig economies. Working in collaboration with Evident, a data security platform that allows...
Canada’s Intact Financial Not Planning to Insure Recreational Cannabis Industry
Oct 3 2018 // Don’t expect Intact Financial Corp., Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer, to insure the recreational-cannabis industry anytime soon. “It’s not seen as the pot of gold that we should chase...
Uber Settles with States for $148M Over Failure to Disclose Data Breach
Sep 27 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc. will pay $148 million for failing to disclose a massive data breach in 2016, marking a costly resolution to one of the biggest embarrassments and legal tangles the ride-hailing company has...
Toyota Eyes Future When People Don’t Buy Cars, Pushing Ride-Hailing Ties, Insurance
Sep 27 2018 // Toyota Motor Corp., Asia’s biggest carmaker, is preparing for a potential future where people don’t buy cars. That’s behind the hefty investments that the company has made in ride-hailing providers, most...
Decision in Uber Employee vs. Contractor Suit Cuts Driver Bargaining Power
Sep 25 2018 // Uber drivers seeking pay and benefits like those employees get were handed a big defeat by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. A panel of court justices ruled that drivers must go through arbitration and could not...
