Latest Sharing Economy Headlines
All the headlines from our Sharing Economy Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Uber Drivers Lose Key Ruling in Pay and Benefits Suit
Sep 25 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc. drivers suffered a major defeat in one of the gig economy’s most closely watched labor fights with a ruling barring hundreds of thousands of drivers from suing as a group for better pay and...
Arizona Uber Driver Suing NFL Quarterback in Groping Incident
Sep 20 2018 // A female Uber driver in Arizona is suing Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston, accusing him of sexual assault. Court documents say the woman filed the suit in Arizona this week and is seeking more than $75,000...
Americans’ Interest in Self-Driving Cars Goes in Reverse
Sep 19 2018 // Less than half of Americans (43 percent) are interested in utilizing self-driving cars, down from 53 percent last year. According to an annual sharing economy index by Allianz Global Assistance, the lack of interest is...
Suit: Uber Saved $500M a Year by Misclassifying California Drivers as Independent Contractors
Sep 12 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc. may be saving more than $500 million a year by misclassifying its California drivers as independent contractors, according to a lawsuit that claims the ride-hailing company is flouting a ruling by...
Rideshare Firms Eye New Safety Measures for Riders, Drivers
Sep 10 2018 // If you sit in an Uber car for too long, the ride-hailing company plans to check up on you to make sure all is OK. That’s one of several new features Uber Technologies Inc. unveiled on Wednesday meant to make trips...
Judge Tosses Uber Investors’ Class Action Bid Over Stock Losses
Sep 4 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc. and its former Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick defeated a lawsuit claiming the company swept illicit business practices under the rug that cost investors billions of dollars. U.S. District...
