Chris Hawes (chawes)

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 …
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  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
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  Woman gives birth in back of taxi. Driver is cool.

  Warning: graphic. Can anyone top this??? 
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  The future of the gig economy...

  Is this it? LOL
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  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 …
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  Beijing Taxi Trajectories

  Check out this cool visualization of a day of taxi trips in Beijing. Talk about busy huh! Click on the …
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  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). …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …
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  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 …

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Comments by chawes

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   5 years ago in  Brooklynites drowning in helicopter noise since Uber Copter, Blade launch

  There used to be helicopter service between the airports and helipads on top of buildings in Manhattan. That all ended in 1977 when a chopper crashed on the roof of the pan am building. https://gothamist.com/news/in-1977-five-were-killed-in-helicopter-accident-atop-midtowns-pan-am-building

  
  

  That said, helicopters are pretty safe. But noisy as all hell yes.

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   5 years ago in  The Epic Rise and Hard Fall of New York’s Taxi King

  Wow. The situation with medallions was even worse than I realized.

  In several articles this year, an investigation by The New York Times found that government officials stood by as industry leaders artificially inflated medallion prices and channeled immigrant drivers into loans they could not afford to purchase the permits. The leaders reaped hundreds of millions of dollars before the bubble burst, wiping out thousands of buyers who are still mired in debt today.

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   5 years ago in  Wow. Uber Hub has separate bathrooms for "drivers" and "employees"

  Wow, that's crappy.

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   5 years ago in  If there were Level 5 autonomous cars available today, would you get in one? Would you trust a robot with your life?

  Yeah I bet. They obviously have to be super cautious now since they are on thin ice by default as far as public perception is concerned. It will only take a few mishaps for people's trust to be severely shaken. But that caution also hampers them.

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   5 years ago in  If there were Level 5 autonomous cars available today, would you get in one? Would you trust a robot with your life?

  It seems like there is a critical mass that needs to be reached before these things will be truly successful. If there are mostly human drivers, and a few AVs, the AVs are going to struggle because humans are so difficult to predict. They basically have to drive very defensively, assuming the worst in ever driver. Making a left turn onto a busy road will stymie them. But if most of the cars on the road are AVs, they are easier to predict -- potentially they could even talk to each other and negotiate intersections etc.

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   5 years ago in  Urgent need ride to Parlin NJ

  It looks like Uber and Lyft should be readily available. I think that is your best bet.

  https://ride.guru/estimate/South%20Amboy,%20New%20Jersey,%20United%20States/Parlin,%20New%20Jersey,%20United%20States#fare-comparison

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   5 years ago in  London giving Uber the Boot?

  Wow. That's gotta hurt. I guess they can still operate while they appeal.

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   5 years ago in  Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick Sells $1.5 Billion of Uber in Weeks After Lockup

  Honestly if I was sitting on that much equity in any company... I'd cash out as soon as I could too.

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   5 years ago in  Uber plans to start audio-recording rides in the U.S. for safety The ride-hailing firm is launching an audio-recording pilot in Latin America.

  Sure, and in a few years they'll start saving all the recordings, "for safety and market research purposes", and then we'll all start seeing ads all over the place for whatever thing we were last discussing in our Uber.  Bet on it.

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   5 years ago in  Machine Learning algorithms

  I'm sure all the rideshare companies are using big data similarly. Predicting high traffic times, driver behavior, etc. Using it to inform upfront pricing. Machine learning is excellent for optimizing revenue.

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   5 years ago in  How much would it be rididny with lyft

  You can get estimates with the rideguru fare calculator. https://ride.guru

  Have fun!

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   5 years ago in  does laughlin nevada have uber? I'm seeing conflicting information. I found ...

  Looks like yes. Check the map here https://www.uber.com/global/en/cities/las-vegas/

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   5 years ago in  Ride

  Here is a link to the RideGuru estimate

  I would probably schedule it ahead of time to make sure you can get a driver to take you that far, but it should be possible.

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   5 years ago in  Uber claims it will have Flying Taxi's in the sky by 2023!

  Are they gonna be pig shaped? 😂

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   5 years ago in  Debit Card

  As long as your debit card can behave like a credit card (is Visa or MasterCard logo on it?) then yes you should be able to use it in an Uber or Lyft account.

  
  

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   5 years ago in  Uber: The ride-hailing app that says it has ‘zero’ drivers

  I never used Sidecar, but from what I understand, it wasn't as automatic as that. Drivers would set their rates, and then riders would have to choose a driver from a list of options. Way too much work compared to the simplicity of Uber's rider experience. 

  The key to making this work would be the rider app automation. Ie. an algorithm to choose a driver automatically, which users could tweak if they want in order to prioritize price or luxury or whatever. If it was done right, it could be just as easy for riders as Uber, but give much more empowerment to drivers.

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   5 years ago in  Uber: The ride-hailing app that says it has ‘zero’ drivers

  They call themselves a marketplace. That's complete BS because they set the rates. An actual market would have prices set by the drivers, which I think is what the judge is trying to get at in that exchange. I suppose Uber's argument would be that surge pricing is like market pricing, but that's also BS because, again, they set the surge rate, not the drivers.

  I have often thought that a rideshare system that actually sets up a real market could work really well. Where drivers set their own rates, and the rider app selects the best ride automatically based on a combination of price, pickup time, shared/non-shared (pool), luxury level, etc. Riders could set their app to prioritize certain factors over others.

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   5 years ago in  Cars with high-tech safety systems are still really bad at not running people over

  Wow. This is really bad. These systems are giving drivers a false sense of security. 89% of the child-sized dummies were hit. So what's the point of even having these systems then?

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   5 years ago in  Bird raises new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, thanks to longer-lasting scooters

  It's really absurd when you think of it that way. They need ~2.5B minutes of rides to make this up to their investors... That's if they had no expenses...

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   5 years ago in  Which is the cheapest taxi hailing apps in Miami that accept cash?

  If you want to pay cash, you're basically stuck with taxis only. Maybe some limo companies would accommodate cash too but rideshare companies are pretty much out.

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Featured Answers by chawes

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   5 years ago in  Charing Lime scooters is a lucrative way to make income while you sleep

  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.

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