Educating gig workers, Uber goes AV, and Lyft ‘opens a can of whoop ass'. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

EDUCATING GIG WORKERS

One of the biggest issues gig workers face, is educating gig work. Forbes explains:

While self-employment and the gig economy promise freedom and flexibility, they come with significant costs. Given that a majority of Americans cannot answer basic financial literacy questions, that leaves these 5 million Americans left to navigate the landscape of self-employment in the dark.

Because these workers are “independent contractors,” they are not covered by the basic worker protection laws nor do they receive employment-based health insurance, unemployment insurance, retirement benefits, paid sick leave, or workers' compensation when injured on the job.

It's easy to forget that gig workers routinely are forced to work with broken limbs and severe illness in order to put food on the table. A recent study found that one in five gig workers live in a household where someone avoided a doctor or hospital visit because of the cost, while the Economic Policy Institute found that nearly nearly one in five workers went hungry in the last month, thirty percent of gig workers used SNAP to pay for groceries; and nearly a third could not pay all of their monthly utility bills.

UBER GOES BIG ON AV

Uber drives into AV as Tesla is hot on its tail. TechCrunch reported:

Uber said in its second-quarter results statement that the number of trips performed by autonomous vehicles rose 6x from a year earlier — up from what the company didn't say. And, the first thing Uber highlighted in its presentation deck was AVs in a section titled, “Autonomous Vehicle Spotlight.” It detailed how the ride-hail and delivery giant has the right utilization, consumer experience and go-to-market expertise to “drive the greatest value for AV partners.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly described Tesla's future robotaxi network as having a similar business model to Uber and Airbnb, where Tesla owners could add their properly equipped vehicles to the carmaker's own ridesharing app. In places where there aren't enough people to share their cars, Tesla would provide a dedicated fleet of robotaxis.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday's earnings call that he's confident Uber will be able to “acquire AV content…on a global basis.”

LYFT OPENS A CAN OF WHOOP ASS

Lyft goes big on curbing surge pricing. TechCrunch reported:

Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a specific time,” according to CEO David Risher.

The feature is designed to address the inconsistencies of surge pricing, particularly for commuters who use the Lyft app every day. It's part of Lyft's broader plan to “open up a can of whoop ass on primetime,” Risher said Wednesday during Lyft's second-quarter earnings call.

Over the past year, Lyft has made a concerted effort to reduce the number of rides impacted by surge pricing. Risher noted that on a quarterly basis, that number declined by 25%, which he said contributes to better conversion rates.

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