Ola, Uber strike: Mumbai Police arrests MNS transport wing chief, 11 others

On the second day of the Ola, Uber indefinite strike, the Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested 12 people, including Sanjay Naik, the president of the transport wing of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), besides some drivers of either Ola or Uber, an executive of a ride-hailing company told Business Standard. The arrests were made after the filing of a first information report (FIR) against the MNS workers for organising the nationwide strike.

The indefinite strike of drivers of cab aggregators Ola and Uber continued for a second day on Tuesday causing a lot of difficulties for scores of office-goers and other commuters in the metros.

There are around 1.5 million Ula and Ola cabs in the country, and many of them refused to operate, crippling traffic and causing inconvenience to travellers. "Drivers are in huge debt," said Sanjay Naik, president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena, the transport wing of the MNS, adding that they were not making enough money to survive or service their car loans payments. While all of Uber’s cars are owned by the company, Ola allows its drivers to own some of its cabs as well as runs its own cabs across the country.

Ola, Uber indefinite strike begins, commuters set for bumpy ride: 10 points

Do you use Ola and Uber for your daily commute? If yes, you may want to find other modes of transport as drivers for app-based cab aggregators Uber and Ola on Monday started an indefinite strike across India. The strike, which began at midnight on Sunday, centred on Mumbai and was called by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's transport union.

The strike, which will be observed in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, aims to voice the drivers’ woes of not being able to cover rising costs due to falling business. They are currently being paid Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per month, according to media reports.

"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000 and were expecting to make Rs 150,000 a month. But drivers are unable to make even half of this because of the mismanagement by these companies," said Sanjay Naik, President of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena, reported news agency PTI.

Virat Kohli as Uber's brand ambassador: How long will the ride last?

Sometime last year when Virat Kohli announced that he would not endorse a cola brand ever because it went against his lifestyle and principles, he set the cat among the pigeons. As Pepsi’s most high profile brand ambassador in the country, he had in effect turned against his own brand. The company however did not react and the issue was soon relegated to anecdotal status while Kohli continued on his winning spree making himself one of the most sought after faces among brands.

Now he has signed up yet another endorsement contract; this time with Uber (India). This is a first of its kind initiative for Uber. But for the cricketer, who is valued at US $144 million as per the Rise of the Millennials Report, this is his twentieth brand endorsement. Kohli signing yet another brand is hardly news. But it still gets to the headlines because the Indian captain has not been as discreet or as discriminating with his associations as he is with his game.

For instance when he cut himself out of cola major PepsiCo’s endorsement list, he did so publicly. In an interview to a media house he said that he was going to practice what he preached and stick to endorsements that promoted healthy lifestyles. Pepsi did not fit the bill. Endorsing a soft drink appeared out of sync with the Kohli persona. So Brand Kohli decided to go kosher. Pepsi did not react except to indicate that the cola major and Kohli had had a good run and they were satisfied with that. However the truth of the matter is that Kohli had been on a fitness trip for at least 3-4 years prior to dumping Pepsi. Why did it take him so long to dump the brand?

Uber hails Virat Kohli's commitment to India, gets him as brand ambassador

Cab hailing platform Uber on Friday said it has it has roped in Indian cricket team captain, Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador in India.
"Uber India's association with Virat Kohli will lay the foundation for a host of brand-led interventions in 2018. Besides being the face of the brand, Virat will be actively involved in a series of innovative marketing and customer experience initiatives to be rolled out by Uber India," the company said in a statement.
It, however, did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership.

This is the first time the company has announced a brand ambassador in the Asia Pacific region.

Last month, it had named footballer Mohamed Salah as the brand ambassador for the Egypt market.
"In Virat, we've found a partner who reflects the drive we share with everyday India, while embodying our commitment to serving the country," Uber India and South Asia President Amit Jain said.
India is a key market for Uber, which is locked in an intense battle for market leadership with homegrown player, Ola. 

Waymo to Tesla: Silicon Valley is winning the race for first driverless car

.

Henry Ford didn’t invent the motor car. The late 1800s saw a flurry of innovation by hundreds of companies battling to deliver on the promise of fast, efficient and reasonably-priced mechanical transportation. Ford later came to dominate the industry thanks to the development of the moving assembly line.

Today the sector is poised for another breakthrough with the advent of cars that drive themselves. But unlike the original wave of automobile innovation, the race for supremacy in autonomous vehicles is concentrated among a few corporate giants. So who is set to dominate this time?

I’ve analysed six companies we think are leading the race to build the first truly driverless car. Three of these – General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen – come from the existing car industry and need to integrate self-driving technology into their existing fleet of mass-produced vehicles. The other three – Tesla, Uber and Waymo (owned by the same company as Google) – are newcomers from the digital technology world of Silicon Valley and have to build a mass manufacturing capability.

'Flying taxis' by 2020? Uber strikes deal with Nasa to make it a reality

.

Uber is a step closer in making its flying taxi plans a reality as it has signed a deal with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop an air traffic management system.

Uber said at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon that it signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA for the development of "unmanned traffic management."

Uber had previously unveiled its plans to introduce flying taxi fleets, known as uberAIR, reported CNN.

Uber is already testing another emerging technology, self-driving cars, in various cities around the country, according to the reports.

This is the start-up's first partnership with a U.S. federal government agency.

Uber's partnership is part of NASA's Space Act Agreement, a consortium of industry players working to ensure "safe and efficient operations" of its taxis and other small unmanned aerial systems flying at low altitudes.

Uber plans to trial the project in Los Angeles in 2020 along with the already announced cities Dallas and Dubai, the company said.

It is also hopeful of having commercial operations ready in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the report added.

Uber to take on FoodPanda, Swiggy in India with the launch of UberEats

San Francisco-based ride hailing platform Uber launched its food ordering and delivery service UberEats in India, starting off with making the service available in the city of Mumbai.

The move marks yet another commitment from company in India which is currently engaged in a bitter battle with Softbank-funded Ola for winning the country’s ride hailing market. Uber had kicked off its service in India in August 2013 by offering its service to riders in Bengaluru at first.

While Uber did not share too many details, the company said it would look to expand the service to six Indian cities, presumably the country’s largest metros, by the end of 2017. The launch of UberEats in Mumbai will take the number of cities the service is present in up to 78, spread across 26 countries.

“The introduction of UberEATS in India, with Mumbai as the first city, is a major step in our global expansion and showcases our commitment to the region. The app brings the perfect pairing of amazing restaurant partners, innovative technology, and the efficient Uber delivery network at a tap of a button to people in India,” said Bhavik Rathod, Head of UberEATS India.

Rathod had served as the General Manager for Uber’s ride hailing service in India since its entry into the country in 2013.

UberEats will go head to head with services such as FoodPanda, Zomato and Swiggy, which are already well established in all the large Indian cities. All three companies have thousands of restaurants partnering with them, and it will be interesting to see how Uber plans to woo them to join its service.
READ MORE

Uber follows Google, forays into Indian food delivery space with UberEATS

After Google’s entry into Indian food delivery sector with Aero, the world’s largest cab aggregator Uber is looking to do the same with its UberEATS service set to launch in India in the second quarter of the current financial year.

Powered by the same technology that makes its transport mobile app efficient and cost-effective, ordering food from UberEATS will most likely be as easy as requesting a ride.

Not only will it give consumers, restaurant partners, and delivery partners more options, restaurants can even register themselves in order to reach out to more customers.

The launch will be headed by Manan Javeri, former McKinsey executive who joined Uber in 2015, reported The Economic Times. He will most likely directly report to Uber's Asia Pacific head Allen Penn.

UberEATS has been hiring city general managers, city-level restaurant operations managers as well as branding and sales heads across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Gurugram, the report added.

The US-based company had started UberEATS in 2014 as a small delivery pilot in Los Angeles. Since then, it has been expanded to become a stand-alone app. It is currently available in 58 cities globally, including Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei.

"I am incredibly excited about bringing UberEATS to India. This is a significant investment, it spans across multiple cities and regions, and it has the potential to change the food industry - with the push of a button - in one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world," UberEATS Asia Pacific Head Allen Penn said in a blog post.
READ MORE

Uber offers 21-year-old Delhi boy Rs 1.25 cr salary, job in San Francisco

Sidharth, a computer science engineering student of Delhi Technological University (DTU), has been offered an annual salary package of Rs 1.25 crore from United States-based app-based taxi aggregator Uber Technologies, reported The Hindustan Times on Friday.

While this is the second-highest pay package offered to a student from DTU, this is not the first time in the recent past that Uber has offered such a large package to a prospective employee. According to the New Indian Express, in December last year, during the placements in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Uber offered an M.tech passout from the varsity an international profile for a pay package of Rs 1.25 crore.

According to the HT report, Sidharth, an alumnus of Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, has been offered the position of a software engineer at the San Francisco office of Uber. The whopping salary package he has been offered includes basic pay of Rs 71 lakh and benefits, the latter of which take the package to Rs 1.25 crore.(Read More)

Uber launches hourly cab rental service UberHIRE; cash-only option for now

San Francisco-based ride hailing company Uber has launched a service that will allow Indian users to hire cabs on an hourly basis, in an attempt to take on local taxi operators and rival Ola which launched a similar service last year.

The service dubbed UberHIRE will be available across New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vizag and Nagpur. Users will be able to utilise the service for a maximum of 12 hours and will be available only between 6 am and 10 pm.

"UberHIRE is a time-based Uber that's available on-demand, to let you explore and travel around cities knowing that your Uber will wait for you. It's perfect for travellers exploring a new city, senior citizens who need to make trips punctuated with multiple stop overs, or for business travellers who have multiple meetings," the company said in a statement.(Read More)

Uber falls in line; receives license to ply on Karnataka's roads

Uber has finally received a license from the department of transport of the State of Karnataka to ply on the roads of cities such as Bengaluru and Mysuru, months after a case in the high court ruled that the state found it within its powers to regulate taxi aggregators.

The San Francisco-based firm received its license on December 31, nearly six months after rival Ola was granted a license by the state. Uber adhered to the minimum criteria of equipping 100 cabs with digital fare meters, panic buttons and state taxi permits.

"On Saturday, December 31, we received the Karnataka Aggregator's License from the transport department, and will continue to work with authorities to bring in progressive regulations that recognise ridesharing and allow Uber to best serve the drivers, riders and cities of India," said an Uber spokesperson.

While the company has received a license, it says it will continue to engage with the state to push for reforms in the state's aggregator rules. Both Uber and the state are awaiting the Union government's proposed amendments to Section 93 of the Motor Vehicle Act to take things forward.

In June, Uber had filed a petition against the state in the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the rules that capped fares, required cabs to be fitted with GPS modules, panic buttons and taxi boards. The company's main contention was that the rules were unconstitutional and that the state did not have the power to regulate companies such as it.(Read More)