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While experts debated whether self-driving cars would be commercially available in 5 or 10 years,  Uber  raced ahead and put vehicles on the road. Last August, it launched a program in Pittsburgh that allowed people to summon a self-driving car from their phones. At the same time, Uber acquired autonomous-trucking startup Otto. Together, these moves put the company, valued at $68 billion, at the forefront of transportation’s next wave. “The biggest asset and advantage [of our self-driving efforts] is being part of the larger Uber network,” says Raffi Krikorian, engineering director at the company’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh. 1. A SMART PILOT Uber deliberately chose Pittsburgh for its first fleet because of the city’s erratic weather and winding roads. “If we can drive in Pittsburgh, we [know we] have the features we need to go and drive in other cities,” Krikorian says. The project has since expanded to Phoenix. 2. AUTOMOTIVE ALLIES Last su...

Pop icon Cher took to Twitter Thursday to blast the House’s passage of the American Health Care Act, lamenting that the bill’s signature into law would threaten to cut funding to treat her asthma. In her signature tweeting style of using emojis for words, the 70-year-old singer called the passage of the AHCA on Thursday “insanity,” and called President Donald Trump a “mad King George III president.” In an earlier tweet, the singer called GOP representatives in the House “inhumane” and predicted millions of people would die as a result of the legislation, which has not yet cleared the Senate or been signed by the president. Cher also urged New Yorkers to “show this idiot what he’s in for.” The president visited his hometown Thursday evening for the first time since he took office in January following the vote on the health care bill. The pop star was just one of numerous celebrities to use their social media accounts Thursday to voice their dis...

We trial UberX and taxi services to find out which performs best on price and r e liability Uber has well and truly entered the market in Australia. However, the app-based transport service's journey hasn't been without controversy and opposition from the taxi industry. Initially, much of the kerfuffle circled around the legality of UberX, a ride-sharing service that links passengers with private drivers through an app. But as regulation has been, or is planned to be, introduced in most states and territories, the legality of ride-share services is more or less resolved. UberX first made a splash in Australia back in April 2014. Since then, a number of other ride-sharing services, such as GoCar and even the female-only service Shebah, have launched. In that time the ride-sharing industry has seen a steady increase in passenger demand, while it appears taxi use has remained consistent, according to figures from an Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal. For example, ...

After settling two big lawsuits where drivers claimed Uber did not allow them to accept tips, Uber agreed to not get in the way of the practice any more. There was even speculation that Uber might start encouraging the act. Today, the on-demand ride app has answered that speculation with an unequivocal middle finger to its drivers: “Tips are not included nor are they expected on Uber.” In the  two class-action lawsuits , drivers accused the company of violating labor laws by discouraging tipping. As part of the settlement, Uber agreed to allow its drivers to ask for and receive tips, a seemingly big stride for a company that has a terrible track record for  poor labor practices . But in an email that went out to some customers today, which is also  posted on Uber’s public policy blog on Medium , the company asserts that tipping has never been part of its policy: Nothing has changed. As we’ve said for many years, being Uber means you don’t need to tip. Of...

Uber Technologies , the increasingly popular yet controversial ridesharing app, has so far infiltrated  58 countries  around the world in its five-year lifespan and shows no signs of slowing down. The number of new drivers joining the ranks of Uber chauffeurs  doubles  every six months, and last week the company officially surpassed the  $50 billion mark  in funding. But for all its popularity, the upstart has had (and will probably continue to have) a bumpy ride,  enraging  established taxi companies by elbowing its way onto their turf and demonstrating the  potential problems  with the still nascent sharing economy. While commuters and government decide how to deal with Uber, here are a few things you might not know about the company and the drivers that make it go. 1. Drivers don’t get discounts. When Barrett, an UberX driver in Tennessee, answered his phone to speak with me, he was walking a mile to the airport to avo...