RIDEGURU
Chris Hawes (chawes)
Ride Guru from Boston, MA
CTO of RideGuru, tech expert & enthusiast
756 Rider GuruChris has been involved with the Taxi industry since co-founding TaxiFareFinder.com in 2007, and has been an avid follower of the rideshare industry since its inception. An expert in full-stack web design and development, Chris oversees all the technical aspects of Unleashed's innovative products.
Activity
Posts by chawes
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How to keep your car safe during COVID
Check it out, some smart people figured out how to make airflow in your car safest for avoiding getting germs … -
Due To New California Law, Uber Allows Some Drivers To Set Their Own Rates
Whoahttps://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800437791/due-to-new-california-law-uber-allows-some-drivers-to-set-their-own-rates?utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25AV1xVIyT5ykvB3lF6EcC8thYJ4pf4BX2pBKCOZmGCZV8isrR5a_-KOU -
Uber: The ride-hailing app that says it has ‘zero’ drivers
Reality distortion field...Uber contract drivers helped bring in more than three-quarters of the company’s revenue in this year’s first … -
Bird raises new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, thanks to longer-lasting scooters
Lot of cash for a company that can't turn a profit......That may have something to do with grim reports … -
Inside the new Uber: Weak coffee, vanishing perks and fast-deflating morale [Washington Post]
It's official. Uber has gone from hip startup to boring big company.https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/30/inside-new-uber-weak-coffee-vanishing-perks-fast-deflating-morale/Sounds like morale is pretty low among … -
Inside Uber’s plan to take over city life with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/26/20885185/uber-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-interview-exclusiveIt’s an ambitious play to become the de facto transportation and delivery service in every major city. But the … -
New York City’s first self-driving shuttle service is now open for business
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20755163/new-york-city-self-driving-shuttle-serviceMuch like other autonomous vehicle (AV) shuttle services that have cropped up in recent years across the country, it … -
Woman gives birth in back of taxi. Driver is cool.
Warning: graphic. Can anyone top this??? -
The Uber for helicopters is now Uber
This pricing doesn't seem that bad. Getting from Manhattan to JFK can be a nightmare. Helicopter in 8 minutes? Where … -
As was predicted, Uber’s IPO means you’ll be paying higher fares for your rides
This article nicely sums up what I think a lot of us were already thinking.As we’ve reported before, Uber's … -
The future of the gig economy...
Is this it? LOL -
Uber rang in its IPO with champagne and mimosas. Then the hangover began.
You just can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you.SAN FRANCISCO — Uber shut down a party at … -
Beijing Taxi Trajectories
Check out this cool visualization of a day of taxi trips in Beijing. Talk about busy huh! Click on the … -
Four reasons Uber’s IPO stalled on Friday
So the Uber IPO is a huge dud, surprising exactly no one (especially after Lyft's weak performance since it's IPO). … -
Uber and Lyft stop hiring new drivers in New York City
NYC's new regulation around rideshares is officially doing its job now, for better or for worse. Uber and Lyft have … -
Electric scooters may not be around for long [The Verge]
The article is light, but watch the video for more detail.The fundamental numbers don’t really add up because scooters … -
Lyft becomes the first ride-hail company to go public, beating Uber
Welp, here it is folks.https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/1/18246328/lyft-ipo-ride-share-bikes-scooters-uber-public-secI am surprised to see how much Lyft's market share has increased in the … -
Uber and Lyft reportedly giving some drivers cash bonuses to use towards buying IPO stock
So, would you buy the IPO, or just pocket the cash? I know what I'd do...The two programs are … -
Uber Exploring Autonomous Bikes and Scooters [TechCrunch]
Pretty wild. Scooters that can drive themselves to their charging stations, and redistribute themselves to wherever they are needed. So … -
Uber Is Headed for a Crash [nymag]
Interesting read. How long can Uber survive hemorrhaging money?Uber’s investors have been buying your satisfaction in the form of …
Featured Answers by chawes
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Ok since a few people have wondered about this:
How much does it cost to charge a scooter? Less than you might think. Just to run some rough numbers:
The scooter batteries' capacities are reported to be about 8800mAh at 36V. We can convert this to watt hours: 8800 * 36 / 1000 = 316.8Wh
Electricity costs on average of 12 cents per kilowatt hour (ie. 1000 watt hours) in the US. So, the cost of charging one of these scooters from empty is going to be something like:
(316.8 / 1000) * 12 = 4 cents
It's probably a bit more than that since chargers are not 100% efficient. And, the cost of electricity varies between different locations, so take this with a grain of salt. But it's safe to say the electricity cost of charging these things is not something to worry much about.
The whole concept of data privacy is about to leave its "wild west" phase. Europe has its new GDPR regulations taking effect next month which also prevent things like this happening to users unknowingly and has very steep fines for companies that violate its restrictions.
For the best...
I think the taxi industry figured the government would regulate the Ubers out of existence. How could they not?
Part of the appeal of AVs is that they can communicate and coordinate with each other to keep the flow of traffic going. If all the vehicles on the road were AVs we wouldn't need traffic lights. Gridlock as a phenomenon would be completely eliminated.
But, even in that ideal situation, congestion could still be a problem, because even AVs are limited by the laws of physics. They can only go so fast safely, and can only accelerate and decelerate so quickly. So a road has a limited throughput.
And, a world where all cars are AVs is surely very far in the future, if it ever happens at all. Until then, there will always be human driver screwing everything up for the robots.
Hi Rafael, thanks for writing. We are looking into whether we can provide support for 99 fare estimates. At this time it is not clear whether we will be able to, but we are trying.
LOL '“We may add an off button in the future, depending on how users respond,” he added.'
Umm, I think I can tell you exactly how users are going to respond, buddy.
Right so basically,
driving for uber in their VR world
London's congestion charge is per day, not per trip. Big difference. In NYC many people take rides multiple times a day so this will really add up.
If that's true, then they need a new PR firm. Telling the world they switched it off sounds worse than telling them it failed. Complete incompetence in the worse possible way.
Wait, what? This needs way more explanation. Way more questions than answers. None of this makes sense.
Why did Uber disable it?
Did they know it was disabled?
Did the driver disable it?
Do drivers even have that ability? Why?
Why is it even possible to disable the collision avoidance software at all?
Yeah but then there's this. Even with that video, Intel thinks their software (which Uber doesn't use, but other AV companies do) would have done a better job. Their car would have applied the brakes a second before the crash.
And that's based solely on this low quality video. With an array of LIDAR and other sensors it probably would have done much better. Maybe even stopped before hitting her.
https://mashable.com/2018/03/26/intel-mobileye-uber-fatal-crash/?utm_source=quora#FrEsR6CMusqB
Uber really screwed the pooch.
And keep in mind that's average. That includes all the "easy" miles of highway driving. They must have been stopping much more frequently in urban areas...
Yeah that's what I took away from this too. That seems incredible to me. I challenge any human drive to go 5600 miles without doing something stupid. Texting while driving, driving drowsy or drunk, etc.
'Based on the footage, Moir said that the driver had little time to react. “The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them,” she said. “His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision.”'
I want to know if the car itself made an attempt to stop when it detected that she was starting to move toward the roadway. It's possible that it actually reacted faster than a human could have in that situation, but the laws of physics simply didn't allow the vehicle to stop in time.
“I won’t rule out the potential to file charges against the [backup driver] in the Uber vehicle.”
Wow. This is getting messy.
Before we all freak out here, I think we need more information.
The fundamental question that needs to be asked is: would a human driver have been likely to avoid this?
And we just don't know. Though there was a human monitoring this ride, we have no idea if he was even paying attention, so that is not a good yardstick.
It was nighttime, it was dark. It could have been an impossible situation for all we know. I hope we get to see a detailed report eventually.
I expect they'll announce them at end of quarter anyways. They wouldn't put this out there otherwise.
Uber has released past earnings. Lyft is just basing this stat on those figures.
I love reading ideas like this. I don't know if this sort of thing will ever happen. People are still getting their heads around what blockchain is and what sort of services it might enable. There is nothing wrong with pie-in-the-sky thinking.
Uber or Lyft will be the cheapest rates, but you would probably need 2 cars to get four of you plus your luggage. In that case, you might find that a van taxi that could hold all of you would be cheaper than two ubers, since they are charged at normal taxi rates. Usually you can request one at the airport.