Drivers create an own app, Uber drops commission and earnings are down. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

Drivers are fighting Uber by launching their own apps. Business Insider reported:

Sperry and several hundred fellow drivers in San Diego are exploring forming a cooperative. Instead of driving for the established apps, Sperry said, they would set up their own app, elect leaders to manage it, and create transparent policies around issues such as deactivating drivers.

In some cities, driver co-ops already exist.

In New York City, The Drivers Cooperative has been offering rides since 2021.

Another, Drivers Co-op Colorado, launched last September. The co-op has about 16,000 drivers, and it guarantees them 80% of each fare that riders pay. Many ride-hailing drivers say they get paid less than half of the fare on other apps. The co-op's promise also represents a greater share than Lyft, which says it pays drivers 70% of the weekly rider payments they earn after fees.

Uber has adopted a new model for drivers in India. Yahoo! Finance reported:

Ride-hailing platform Uber has moved to a zero-commission model for its autorickshaw drivers in India and will instead charge them a subscription fee, mirroring a strategy followed by local rivals as competition intensifies.

Uber said it will now only connect users with nearby drivers and will suggest a fare but the final amount would be decided by the driver and the rider, the company said in a blog post.

A company spokesperson said the company made the shift as it did not want “to be at a competitive disadvantage”.

Gig workers worked more but earned less in 2024. Business Insider reported:

Uber hide-hailing drivers saw their earnings for 2024 fall 3.4% on average to $513 a week, according to a study released Tuesday by data analytics company Gridwise. At the same time, Uber drivers worked 0.8% more hours in 2024.

Lyft drivers, meanwhile, worked 5.4% fewer hours in 2024, but saw their pay decline at a faster clip of 13.9% to $318 a week.

Meantime at DoorDash, gross weekly earnings rose 4.8% to $240 in 2024. Hourly earnings for those on the app fell, though, as the number of hours that gig workers spent on the app rose 5.2%.

Tips were much less significant for ride-hailing drivers, Gridwise found. Gratuities made up just 10.4% of earnings, per the report.

LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free

Waymo barrels through a pothole, Lyft eyes robotaxis and riders pay more. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

Waymos went full speed through a pothole. Road & Track reported:

Waymo's driverless fleet of Jaguar I-Paces tend to perform exceedingly well in normal driving situations — but a pothole in the middle of a San Francisco intersection found a weak point in its programming.

Video from local TV station ABC 7 News Bay Area posted to YouTube last week shows one of Waymo's self-driving car absolutely sending it through a large pothole that formed at Lombard and Gough Street. The water-filled holes in the road — estimated to be a five-by-four-foot gap — look suspicious enough that a (reasonably intelligent) human would pause before driving through at full speed … but they probably just looked like big puddles to the sensor and LiDAR-festooned Waymo vehicles.

The news report claims the autonomous vehicle caught on camera was just one of several Waymos ABC 7 saw slamming across the hole before construction crews could properly block it off from traffic. As depicted in the report, you can see that crews fully coned off the area eventually — which is likely all that needed to happen to keep Waymos from trying to barge through.

Lyft is rolling out robotaxis by 2026. Reuters reported:

Feb 10 (Reuters) — U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft (LYFT.O), opens new tab plans to launch “as soon as 2026” fully autonomous robotaxis in Dallas, powered by Mobileye's technology (MBLY.O), opens new tab, CEO David Risher said on Monday.

Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate with experience managing fleets, will own and finance the Mobileye-equipped vehicles that will show up on the Lyft app, Risher said in a post on X.

Massachusetts is eyeing a $15 airport fee for riders. Boston Globe reported:

Currently, Massport charges ride apps a $3.25 fee for pickups or drop-offs at Logan, which the ride-hailing giants then pass onto customers' fares. But the agency that oversees the airport is discussing hiking those fees to $5.50 each way starting in July, and then raising them to $7.50 each starting in July 2027, according to materials presented at a Massport board committee meeting on Wednesday and obtained by the Globe.

In fiscal year 2024, which ended in June, ride app drop-off fees alone generated $15.6 million of revenue for Massport, up from $13.7 million the year prior, according to Massport's annual financial report. Logan Airport ride-app pickups and drop-offs increased about 14 percent in the same period, the report said.

Josh Gold, the senior director of public policy and communications at Uber, said he was concerned that the eventual $15 roundtrip surcharge would batter consumers' wallets and cost Uber drivers reliable business. He also questioned why ride-hailing apps face higher surcharges than taxis or personal vehicles, which pay no fees to come and go and are, Massport's presentation says, the “most impactful mode to congestion.”

LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.

Rides get more pets, drivers pay goes down and Waymo hits Austin. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

Uber is making it easier to ride with service animals. The Verge reported:

Uber introduced a new feature designed to make it easier for people with disabilities to ride with service animals.

For years, Uber's policies toward service animals have been in accordance with state and federal law: they are allowed to ride at all times at no extra cost. But now the company is allowing customers to self-identify as owners of service animals in order to give drivers more visibility when to expect a furry companion. The new feature also includes a warning to drivers to avoid cancelling rides or discriminating against customers with service animals.

If a rider opts into notifying drivers and a driver requests to cancel their trip at pickup, the driver will receive a notification reminding them it's against the law to refuse to transport someone because of their service animal and confirming that they wish to proceed with the cancellation. “Any driver who violates this policy may permanently lose access to the platform,” Yoon says.

Driver pay has dropped since minimum wage was enacted. Boston Globe reported:

Contrary to the idea that the new minimum wage would increase pay, a number of veteran drivers interviewed by The Boston Globe said their overall earnings have taken a hit since Uber and Lyft's new minimum hourly wage went into effect in Massachusetts. Intended to give them greater stability and, ostensibly, the ability to make more money, drivers said that instead the new earnings base seems to be functioning as a cap of sorts.

It's not that these drivers are making below the new minimum, it's that it has become much harder to make more, according to 10 local drivers who talked to the Globe, some of whom said that, previously, with a little effort, they could average $40 or even $50 an hour.

So far, data analysis of earnings before and after the new minimum wage is limited. But drivers point to several factors that could be contributing to the earnings pinch, including more low-paying rides and less surge pricing, which they say can boost earnings by up to 30 percent. Some report an increase in drivers, including from outside Massachusetts, possibly attracted by the promise of the new minimum wage, which would mean less need to use surge pricing to incentivize people to get on the road.

Uber is getting ready for Waymos in Austin. CNBC reported:

Ride-hailing and food delivery app Uber is opening its “interest list” to users in Austin, Texas, who want to be first in line for Waymo robotaxis there.

The company said in a statement that users will “be able to travel across 37 square miles of Austin — from Hyde Park, to Downtown, to Montopolis” — when the Uber-Waymo service launches soon.

The list allows users to receive Uber updates and bolsters their odds of being matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle upon launch.

The Waymo rides in Austin will only be available through the Uber app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where riders hail them through the Waymo One app.

LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries. Consultations are always free.