UBER Archives

Uber cops $26 million fine after admitting it misled more than 2 million Australians over its cancellation fee

Simon Thomsen - April 26, 2022 2 MIN READ

Ridesharing company Uber has admitted it misled customers when it warned them of additional fees for cancelling trips and has agreed to wear a $26 million fine following action by consumer watchdog the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. Uber has admitted that it breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements in… Read more »

Global tech

The NSW government is planning to compensate the taxi industry for Uber’s arrival with another $1 billion package

Simon Thomsen - March 24, 2022 2 MIN READ

Rideshare and taxi users in NSW will be slugged with an ongoing $1 surcharge as part of a whopping $1 billion compensation package for the taxi industry being considered by the NSW government, more than six years after Uber was legalised in the state. When rideshare was legalised in late 2015, the then-Baird government announced… Read more »

ASX

Uber gobbles up Car Next Door

Simon Thomsen - January 20, 2022 2 MIN READ

Australian startup Car Next Door has sold to the US tech giant Uber after a decade in business. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed The peer-to-peer car rental platform first launched in Sydney in 2012 and now operates in all capital cities except Darwin, as well as the Gold Coast, Cairns,Launceston, and Newcastle.… Read more »

Data

Investigation finds Uber ‘interfered’ with the privacy of 1.2 million Australians following 2016 cyber attack

Simon Thomsen - July 27, 2021 3 MIN READ

A three-year investigation into a cyber attack that stole data from Uber belonging to 1.2 million Australia has found that the US tech company failed to act appropriately in response and paid the cyber criminals responsible a bug bounty for the breach. Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk’s review said Uber “interfered” with the privacy of around… Read more »

Topic

Your 90-second guide to the day in tech

Simon Thomsen - February 23, 2021 3 MIN READ

Hello and welcome to Tuesday. Don’t forget to tune in for the Startup Daily show on Ausbiz.com.au every weekday, 2-2.45pm. Watch online, download the ausbiz app or via 7Plus. Eftpos taps fintech advice eftpos has launched a fintech advisory committee in collaboration with FinTech Australia to give the startups a direct say in how to access and leverage the… Read more »

Global tech

Uber Australia has settled a long-running legal fight over the employment status of drivers

Simon Thomsen - January 5, 2021 3 MIN READ

Uber Australia has settled a Federal Court case with an UberEats driver they sacked for being late with a delivery before the court could rule on whether then driver was an employee of the business. The move heads off the threat the US tech giant being forced to recognise drivers as employees, rather than contractors,… Read more »

Global tech

Uber’s ditched its Melbourne flying taxi project

Simon Thomsen - December 9, 2020 2 MIN READ

US rideshare company Uber has shed its flying taxi project less than six months after the company reaffirmed plans to launch Uber Air in Melbourne. Joby Aviation, a Californian startup developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft it hopes to launch by 2023, has bought the Uber Elevate project off the rideshare… Read more »

Topic

5 things you should know about tech today

Simon Thomsen - May 19, 2020 5 MIN READ

Welcome to Tuesday and some big news globally. 1. SoftBank posts record loss Japan’s SoftBank has posted a shocker in its annual results for the fiscal year to March 31, revealing its first annual loss in 15 years in a A$49 billion turnaround. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma resigned from the board, just ahead… Read more »

Topic

5 things you should know about tech today

Simon Thomsen - February 24, 2020 4 MIN READ

Happy Monday team. Here are some water cooler moments for you. 1. Uber faces US$1bn claim that it stole the idea A California jury has given the go ahead to an inventor’s plan to lodge a US$1 billion damages claim against Uber for allegedly stealing the idea from him. Kevin Halpern… Read more »

Topic

DiDi’s Sydney expansion is about to make things tougher for ridesharing rivals Uber and Ola

Simon Thomsen - February 20, 2020 2 MIN READ

First mover Uber has managed to capture 90% of Australia’s ridesharing market, a Roy Morgan study has revealed, but competition is expected to heat up as Chinese rival DiDi enters the Sydney market next month. When Uber first arrived in 2013, the service was illegal, but managed to establish its dominance before ridesharing was… Read more »

Opinion

Uber’s biggest disruption is to job security

The Conversation - November 28, 2019 4 MIN READ

Peter Fleming, University of Technology Sydney; Carl Rhodes, University of Technology Sydney, and Kyoung-Hee Yu, University of Technology Sydney The effective exclusion of Uber from London, one of the digital platform’s most lucrative markets, adds to a small but significant list of places putting up roadblocks to “uberisation”. Governments in Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Hungary and… Read more »

Opinion

The 13cabs boss doubts Uber’s profitability, but I think ridesharing has bigger problems

Simon Thomsen - September 6, 2019 8 MIN READ

There’s an old sporting sledge, coined by a 1930s Springboks rugby forward after an unlikely win, that applies equally in business: “Look at the scoreboard!” Andrew Skelton, CEO and Managing Director of A2B Australia, the old Cabcharge business running the 13cabs network, said as much to Uber in the AFR last week in releasing the… Read more »

Topic

Uber is making Melbourne part of its pioneering electric passenger drone program

Simon Thomsen - June 12, 2019 4 MIN READ

US ridesharing giant Uber has chosen Melbourne as the first international site to trial its electric helicopter Uber Air. The Victorian capital joins Dallas and Los Angeles as pilot cities for the program. Test flights are due to get underway from 2020 with the goal of commercial flights from 2023. Uber’s Australian, New Zealand and… Read more »

Topic

Uber is about to face the legal fight of its life, worth hundreds of millions, against thousands of Australian cabbies

Simon Thomsen - May 3, 2019 3 MIN READ

A class action against Uber from taxi drivers has the potential to be Australia’s biggest class action More than 6000 people among 57,000 potential claimants have already signed up for the case Class action lawyers Maurice Blackburn lodged the claim in the Victorian Supreme Court today Global ridesharing app Uber is facing a major legal… Read more »

Topic

Chinese rideshare giant Didi Chuxing to launch Didi Express service in Melbourne

Gina Baldassarre - June 15, 2018 2 MIN READ

The Australian rideshare market continues to heat up, with Chinese player Didi Chuxing today announcing it’s set to launch in Melbourne later this month.