Waymo, the driverless car company run by Google parent company Alphabet, already operates autonomous vehicles in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, and will soon be available in Atlanta and Austin. The Georgia and Texas Waymo experiences, set to launch early next year, will be a bit different than what …
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Uber has been hit with a monster fine in the EU for failing to safeguard the transfer of driver data. On Monday, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) announced that it is fining Uber 290 million euros, or $325 million USD, for violating the EU’s sweeping General Data Protection Regulation …
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The California Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that drivers for app-based companies including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash will remain independent contractors, as opposed to employees. The decision, upholding a state ballot measure called Proposition 22, was considered a major victory for the gig-economy companies. The question of whether those …
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On Wednesday morning, a small group of people huddled over their phones at the foot of the giant glass skyscraper that houses Uber’s London headquarters. They were running an experiment in an attempt to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the platform economy right now: how Uber’s algorithm calculates …
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Platform workers can no longer be fired automatically by algorithms, according to new European Union rules agreed today in a sweeping reform of the gig economy that will affect Uber drivers and Deliveroo couriers. “Now we have a proper system, which is something that doesn't exist anywhere else around the …
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George Saliba didn’t get it: Why were all these people from the Bronx suddenly crowding his electric vehicle dealership in Ewing, New Jersey? Why did they all want Tesla’s black-on-black Model Y? And why did they keep coming? Other electric vehicle sellers in the tri-state area were equally busy. The …
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A small group of protesters stand on the side of a roundabout opposite Brussels’ oak-framed Europa building, which is glowing in the dark. Despite the heavy rain, the group is here to direct their anger at the politicians, who are inside, deciding the future of Europe’s gig economy. In case …
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In August 2016, WIRED visited the San Francisco offices of a young startup recently snapped up by a surprising buyer. General Motors acquired three-year-old Cruise for a reported $1 billion in hopes the straitlaced Detroit automaker could coopt the self-driving technology tipped to disrupt the auto industry. Cruise CEO Kyle …
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Cruise, the self-driving arm of General Motors, said late today it had halted its robotaxi service across the US and would no longer operate its vehicles without safety drivers behind the wheel. That decision to hit the brakes comes two days after California regulators suspended the driverless-car company’s permit in …
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Take a walk around San Francisco this summer and you’ll see something curious: Jaguar SUVs and Chevrolet hatchbacks driving around with no one inside. The ghostly vehicles are owned and operated by Google spinoff Waymo and General Motors subsidiary Cruise. Soon there will likely be a lot more of them, …
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