Uber/Lyft ride-sharing in Kansas City

[aknowledgeableperson]

Saying Uber is just a technology company is quite funny. I guess the first company that took telephone calls from customers and then dispatched a taxi via a radio dispatch to the customer was in fact a technology company. All Uber is a taxi company using technology to get its customers a ride from one place to another.

[earthling]

However the way the service operates, it's couldn't work without modern technology. It only works if the driver has a smartphone with GPS and if the user has a smartphone. And the biz model is very different, everything from 'hiring' (technology allows easy for anyone to become a driver w/out traditional hiring mechanism, technology used for instant background checks, tech used to rate drivers) to revenue model. The traditional cab companies need to switch to better technology model if they are to survive. After using Uber many times, I would _not_ use a traditional cab unless having to or if directly in front of me ready to go at same or less price.

They are both ride-hailing services but the old model is similar to a bank manually processing every transaction with paper method rather than using computers.

The Internet impacted video stores, music stores, book stores, certain big box stores and traditional cab industry is next unless they can adapt.

[normalthings]

Saying Uber is just a technology company is quite funny. I guess the first company that took telephone calls from customers and then dispatched a taxi via a radio dispatch to the customer was in fact a technology company. All Uber is a taxi company using technology to get its customers a ride from one place to another.

Is that a bad thing? People associate Uber and tech companies with innovation. They would rather be called a tech company than an old dirty taxi company.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Saying Uber is just a technology company is quite funny. I guess the first company that took telephone calls from customers and then dispatched a taxi via a radio dispatch to the customer was in fact a technology company. All Uber is a taxi company using technology to get its customers a ride from one place to another.

Is that a bad thing? People associate Uber and tech companies with innovation. They would rather be called a tech company than an old dirty taxi company.

The problem they faced with regulators at the beginning was Uber's argument it wasn't a taxi company. But it seems many recent court decisions have ruled they are more like a taxi company than just a tech company. Even the compromises they have made with regulators makes them more like a taxi company.

[DaveKCMO]

uber will be issuing a report soon showing a drop in drunk driving arrests after they entered the KC market.

[KCtoBrooklyn]

Yesterday I saw what appeared to be an Uber driverless car in the Brookside area.

It was a black SUV with the Uber logo and a bunch of equipment on the top, including a 360 degree camera. It did somewhat resemble the Google street view setup, so if it wasn't a driverless car, maybe Uber is creating some sort of map alternative.

Has anyone else seen this or have any ideas what it is?

[pash]

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[flyingember]

probably not mapping literally but more having to do with real time machine learning algorithm development

the easy part of self driving is following a static view with lines and signs and such. that's what mapping gets you. harder is dynamic learning with a changing environment.

[pash]

.

[KCtoBrooklyn]

It probably was something mapping related. It looked more like a Google map car with the camera raised on a pole, rather than the car in the picture where the camera/sensors appear to be closer to the vehicle.

[shinatoo]

They were driving around lees summit also. Looked like mapping cameras. Probably tired of paying Google for their mapping service.

[DaveKCMO]

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/29/uber-a ... rfpis:Y43R

[aknowledgeableperson]

"As part of the settlement with drivers in California and Massachusetts, Uber has agreed to notify customers more clearly that tips are not included in fares and give tacit approval for optional gratuity. Drivers now have explicit permission to solicit cash tips by asking passengers or posting signs in their vehicles. Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing the drivers, said riders should start seeing gratuities as a major part of an Uber driver's income. In other words, more like a cabbie. “I believe that, with this information, many riders will begin tipping their drivers, which will increase drivers’ pay substantially,” she said in a statement to the court.

In the past, Uber tried to discourage tipping.
"http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companie ... li=BBnb4R7

[DaveKCMO]

Uber Overtakes Rental Cars Among Business Travelers
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -travelers

[earthling]

Uber/Lyft stop operation in Austin over fingerprinting regulation that passed Saturday...

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... egulations

[grovester]

I heard they are still operating outside Austin city limits and that GetMe is filling the void.

[DaveKCMO]

lyft is returning to kansas: http://www.kshb.com/news/state/kansas/4 ... -in-kansas

[DaveKCMO]

uber will display transit departures at your drop-off point. kansas city is one of the launch cities. android only, for now.

https://newsroom.uber.com/transitapp/

[DaveKCMO]

lyft may return to KCMO on july 23: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics ... 85933.html