Have you ever found yourself exhausted after a day of work and suddenly so hungry you can't work up the effort to cook a meal...or even type in a full search term? If so, Uber Eats' latest update is made for you. Going forward, users can now search for the food item they want by entering an emoji into the search field instead of words.
Ride-sharing service Lyft has announced the creation of its new Driver Legal Defense Fund, which is intended for drivers who may find themselves facing a lawsuit under Texas's newly imposed abortion law. The company vows to cover all of a driver's legal fees should they find themselves in this unfortunate position.
Uber has announced the expansion of its grocery delivery service, giving consumers in many cities another option for getting the items they need delivered to their homes. According to Uber, this is the single larger expansion of its on-demand grocery delivery service since it launched the platform last summer.
Many local and federal governments worldwide are pushing ridesharing companies to transition their fleets to electric vehicles. However, studies have shown that ridesharing services such as Uber increase local emissions due to miles driven without passengers in the vehicle. To help reduce emissions, Uber and automaker Kia announced not long ago they were partnering with the automaker supplying electric vehicles in Europe to Uber.
Anyone who has taken more than a few Uber rides will know how complicated things can be when you need to be picked up in a busy, unfamiliar location. A call from the driver is all but guaranteed as they attempt to find your precise location while you look out through a field of cars in hopes of spotting your driver. Now Uber is back with an update to help address this issue.
In many locations around the world, people are finally seeing the restrictions that kept them stuck indoors being lifted as the coronavirus pandemic begins to ease. As more and more people are getting out, many are noticing a shortage of workers across various industries as many continue to choose to stay home rather than return to the traditional workforce. As a result, ridesharing services, including Uber and Lyft, face a significant shortage of drivers just as more people are out and about looking for rides. In recent weeks, customers for both companies have reported long wait times and high prices.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has announced that in accordance with the implementation of SB 1014 of 2018, a regulation has been adopted that will require ridesharing companies to begin the electrification of their California fleets starting in 2023. CARB says the move is an another step towards meeting California's 2030 climate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels. California also has a goal of reaching statewide carbon neutrality by 2045.
Arrival is a company that many may be unfamiliar with working to create electric vehicles using what it calls game-changing technologies. Arrival has announced that it has teamed with Uber to build an electric vehicle called the Arrival Car. The EV is designed to be an affordable and purpose-built electric vehicle specifically made for ride-hailing and developed in partnership with Uber drivers.
Ride-sharing company Uber has teamed up with Walgreens to help customers get appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time they schedule a ride to the pharmacy. With this new feature, users can browse vaccination appointment time slots at Walgreens in the Uber app, claim the time they want, then continue on to book a ride for the appointment.
Uber and Lyft will share information on dangerous drivers and delivery people, aiming to make it easier to remove people who have been deactivated from a company's platform over serious safety incidents. The Industry Sharing Safety Program will help flag ride-hailing drivers who have committed physical assaults that result in a fatality, as well as sexual assault, so that they can't jump to a different company's service and continue there.
Uber has announced that it will acquire Drizly, an alcohol delivery service that offers on-demand access to adult beverages in hundreds of markets across the US. The Drizly platform itself won't be going away, but Uber notes that in the future, it will integrate the alcohol delivery platform with its own Uber Eats delivery service.
Uber and Joby Aviation just announced a deal that included an acquisition, "expanded partnership", and $75 million dollars. Uber will invest "a further $75 million" more than they'd previously invested in the aviation company - they'd previously invested $50 million as part of Joby's Series C financing round in the first month of 2020.