Sarah Kessler, author of “Gigged: The end of the job and the Future of Work,” appeared on PBS’ NewsHour this weekend. She offered some interesting and cautionary words about the future of work that contrast and reinforce ideas expressed by Louis Hyman in The New York Times on Saturday in a piece, “It’s Not Technology […]
Tag: Uber
Eager to replace people your business processes? Uber is reconsidering its approach to autonomous vehicles after racing ahead with the project in Pittsburgh, the Bay Area, and Arizona, where a fatal accident with an Uber car raised serious safety questions. The company is laying off 100 autonomous car operators after one of them was found […]
This may be a case of competitive mimickry, as Uber bought JUMP Mobility back in April. However, it points to an inevitability in on-demand: Every business that establishes a beachhead with consumers will find it opportune, even essential, to expand into adjacent markets. Bike-sharing, like car-sharing, can be delivered in one interface by Lyft and […]
Uber lost its highest-profile executive after new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as brand maven Bozema Saint John departs to become CMO of Endeavor, a new entertainment company. Hired by ousted CEO Travis Kalanick, Saint John is one of the last senior female executives at the company. The move is not surprising, given the many executive changes […]
Uber today added another commodity service to its quiver of mobility services with its acquisition of Jump, a New York-based provider of dockless ebikes that had previously raised $11.6 million. The deal was reported to be worth more than $100 million. The 10x premium on capital raised to date, including $10 million from Menlo Ventures […]
The myth of perfect safety in a world transported by autonomous cars has endured until today. A pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, was killed by an Uber autonomous car with a driver at the wheel on Sunday night. The company suspended testing throughout the U.S. and Canada as a result. Perfect safety in complex systems is […]
Lyft is reportedly testing consumer subscriptions for rides in several price ranges designed to get people to skip using a personal car. Trips included in the subscription must be for distances that cost less than $15 for non-subscribers, according to Mashable. You can check how far you can get for $15 using the Lyft Fare […]
Where is your place in the on-demand economy? Many workers and small businesses, including retailers, see the encroachment of Amazon, WalMart, and myriad other services as destructive. Yet media-enabled global brands are consistently challenged when engaging home- and office-based customers. The future of your business, whether a physical location or as an independent contractor, depends […]
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research has released a paper that purportedly blows a hole in the ship of the gig economy. The findings are already much contested, and I’ll lay out in this posting where more research is needed, the flaws in the paper’s methodology, and the policy […]
Although Uber and Waymo settled there intellectual property case last week, the status of workers as independent contractors took a new twist in a California court. Worker payment, training, retention, and earnings drove much of this week’s on-demand news. During 2018, worker retention will be a major issue for on-demand companies. Wirecard, a German payment […]