Hertz to Purchase up to 65,000 Electric Vehicles From Volvo’s Brand Polestar Over the Next 5 Years

Hertz announced on Monday that it will purchase up to 65,000 electric vehicles from Volvo's electric brand Polestar over the next five years. Availability of the Polestar vehicles is expected to begin this Spring in Europe and late 2022 in North America and Australia. Hertz aims to offer the largest electric rental fleet in North America.

Eric Walz2022-05-11 08:30 PT

Waymo Opens its Fully-Autonomous Ride Hailing Service to Employees in San Francisco Without Safety Drivers Onboard

​Alphabet Inc’s autonomous driving division Waymo opened up its autonomous ride-hailing service called “Waymo One” to its employees in San Francisco. The Waymo vehicles picking up employees will be “fully-autonomous”, meaning that no safety drivers will be behind the wheel.

Eric Walz2022-05-06 11:25 PT

Aurora Innovation Unveils its Self-Driving Toyota Sienna Robotaxi in Texas

Autonomous technology developer Aurora Innovation has revealed its new robotaxi developed in partnership with automaker Toyota. The custom-built Toyota Sienna minivan is outfitted with Toyota's Vehicle Control Interface (VCI) and the automaker’s “Sienna Autono-MaaS” (S-AM) platform. It will be used in Aurora's commercial autonomous ride-hailing service called “Aurora Connect”.

Eric Walz2022-04-29 16:30 PT

Waymo is Deploying its Self-Driving Vehicles in New York City

Alphabet Inc’s autonomous driving arm Waymo is deploying its autonomous vehicles in New York City. Beginning tomorrow, Waymo’s mapping vehicles start mapping the city in preparation for a more widespread deployment of fully-autonomous vehicles. The company plans to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service in major U.S. cities called "Waymo One" that's similar to Uber and Lyft.

Eric Walz2021-12-10 07:30 PT

Hertz Partners With Uber to Add Up to 50,000 Tesla Model 3s to its Driver Rental Car Program by 2023

Fresh off the announcement that Hertz will purchase 100,000 Tesla Model 3s for its rental car fleet, the company announced a second partnership with Uber to add up to 50,000 Tesla vehicles by 2023 that Uber drivers can rent by the day. The Tesla Model 3s will be made available through Uber’s driver rental program. Hertz says the partnership is the largest expansion of electric vehicles on a mobility platform in North America and one of the largest globally.

Eric Walz2021-12-03 07:00 PT

Waymo is Now Picking Up Riders in its Self-Driving Robotaxis in San Francisco

Alphabet’s autonomous driving division Waymo, which spun out of Google’s self-driving car project, has launched its commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco for a select group of early testers. The company was approved to begin picking up passengers in its driverless vehicles for the first time in the city after extensively testing its technology using safety drivers behind the wheel.

Eric Walz2021-09-30 10:00 PT

Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping Startup Ample Raises Another $160 Million

San Francisco-based EV battery swapping startup Ample, which came out of stealth mode in March, announced its raised another $160 in Series C funding. Ample's modular battery swapping technology can work with any EV design, regardless of size, since it acts as a drop-in replacement for the vehicle's original battery modules.

Eric Walz2021-09-26 09:00 PT

Electric-Only Ride-Hailing Startup Revel Gets Approval to Deploy its Fleet of Tesla Model Ys in New York City on Aug 2

New York-based electric-only ride-hailing startup Revel Transit has been given the green light by city officials to launch its fleet of Tesla Model Ys and begin picking up paying customers beginning on Aug 2. The service will give both Uber and Lyft some new competition in New York, the most populous city in the U.S. It also offers a greener transportation option.

FutureCar Staff 2021-09-02 10:00 PT

Arrival, Uber Partner to Come Out With Electric Ride-Hailing Car

Arrival, a UK-based electric-vehicle startup has partnered with technology company Uber to come out with a purpose-built ride-hailing car that will be electric.

Vineeth Joel Patel2021-06-15 07:45 PT

Ride-Sharing Startup Revel is Launching a Transportation Service in New York City Using Only Company-owned Tesla Model Ys

Ride-sharing startup Revel is launching a new ride-hailing service in New York City next month with a fleet of Tesla Model Y crossovers. Unlike Uber and Lyft, Revel’s driver partners are hired on as employees, and the company owns the entire fleet of Model Ys, so drivers don’t have to worry about wear and tear and accumulating miles on their personal vehicles or the added expense of maintaining them.

Eric Walz2021-06-04 12:50 PT

Ride-Hailing Company Lyft Sells its Self-driving Unit to Toyota’s Woven Planet Holdings for $550 Million

Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc is following in the footsteps of its primary rival Uber Technologies and will no longer develop its self-driving technology in house. The San Francisco-based company announced on Monday that its selling its autonomous driving unit Level 5 to Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings Inc (“Woven Planet”) for $550 million. Woven Planet is tasked with developing autonomous driving and other advanced mobility technology for Toyota.

FutureCar Staff 2021-06-02 15:35 PT

Ontario-based CpK Interior Products Invents ‘Anti-Viral Plastic’ That Kills 99.9% of COVID-19 on Vehicle Interior Surfaces

Ontario-based company CpK Product Interiors Inc., a Tier 1 supplier of automotive interior components, announced it developed a line of “anti-viral” material formulations for hard and soft plastics, such as those used in vehicle interiors. The company claims that its formulation kills 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, on material surfaces in less than 60 minutes. Founded in 2010, CpK is a subsidiary of automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Eric Walz2020-12-26 07:50 PT

TomTom Extends its Map Editing Partnership with Uber Across its Entire Global Platform

On Tuesday, TomTom announced it will extend its existing partnership that began in 2015 of integrating TomTom’s maps, traffic data, and Maps APIs across Uber’s entire global platform. As part of the ongoing agreement, Uber will serve as a trusted map editing partner to TomTom, leading to even more accurate navigation and location, trip routing, fares, and better arrival time estimates for Uber customers.

FutureCar Staff 2020-11-19 18:00 PT

Uber & Lyft Preparing to Suspend Their Ride-Hailing Service in California Over Labor Dispute

​As of midnight tonight, ride-hailing company Lyft will suspend its California ride-hailing operations, and its bigger rival Uber will likely follow, leaving thousands of people without the on-demand transportation they’ve come to rely on for for the first time in over seven years. The move is a result of California's Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect on Jan 1, 2020 and requires ride-hailing companies to classify drivers as employees.

Jeremy Carlton2020-09-26 11:55 PT

Lyft is Providing Protective Shields to its Drivers for Added Safety During the Pandemic

San Francisco-based ride-sharing company Lyft is providing its drivers with shields, which are designed to partition the vehicle to limit the chances of virus exposure for the rear seat passengers and driver.

Eric Walz2020-08-23 09:00 PT

Self-Driving Startup Aurora Debuts its New Long-Range Lidar Called 'FirstLight'

Self-driving technology startup Aurora announced today its new in-house developed lidar system for its driverless vehicles. The lidar sensor is called "FirstLight" and it can see and track objects more quickly and from further away than other lidar sensors.

Eric Walz2020-08-14 16:00 PT

Uber Buys Rival Postmates for $2.65 Billion as its Core Ride-Hailing Business Stumbles

Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc is looking to extend its reach beyond the food delivery and ride-hailing business. The San Francisco-based company announced today the acquisition of Uber Eats division rival Postmates in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal.

Eric Walz2020-08-12 13:00 PT

Toyota’s Annual Governance Reports Reveals That it Holds a $293 Million Stake In Uber

Toyota’s latest corporate governance report was released on Wednesday and it revealed that the automaker holds a $293 million stake in ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. Toyota said it held 10.25 million shares valued at 31.15 billion yen ($292.46 million) as of March 30, 2020.

Derrick Smith2020-07-31 11:00 PT

Ride-Hailing Company Lyft Vows to Switch to Fully-Electric Vehicles by 2030

San Francisco-based company Lyft Inc. said on Wednesday that every vehicle on its ride-hailing and rental car platform will be fully-electric by 2030.

FutureCar Staff 2020-07-24 14:30 PT

General Motors Shutters its Peer-to-Peer Car-Sharing Unit Maven

General Motors has shuttered its car-sharing platform Maven, which allowed GM owners to share their vehicle as a short-term rental, earning a little extra income in the process. The automaker said it would transfer the Maven assets and resources to its Global Innovation group, which is GM’s incubator for new mobility ideas and technology.

Eric Walz2020-05-29 11:00 PT