Top ten iPad car mounts...

Check out this awesome blog with a review of some of the best iPad car mounts.

Top iPad car mounts stands for iPad air mini

Uber driver requirements: Do you qualify to drive?

Uber Driver Requirements

Below are the requirements to drive UberX, UberXL, and UberPlus/UberSelect.

• Minimum age is 21 years old
•  You must have access to a four-door car that is year 2006 or newer in most cities (2000 or newer: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, 2011 or newer: New York, 2001 or newer: Chicago)
• In-state auto insurance with your name on the policy
• In-state driver’s license, licensed for at least one year In-state plates with a current registration (commercial plates are acceptable as well)
•  Clean driving record Pass a background check

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How much does an Uber driver make? Uber drivers make anywhere from $10 to $35 per hour.
2. Does Uber pay for any of my expenses? No. You pay for your own gas, maintenance, personal insurance, and other costs. You can write off some of those expenses off your taxes.
3. How do I get hired as an Uber driver? Fill out the online application. It asks for basic personal information, then asks you to consent to a background check. If you pass the background check, you then provide information about your vehicle, auto insurance, and vehicle registration. After all of your documents are approved you can sign on and drive. You will be notified via email about each step of the process.
4. What about auto insurance? Do I provide my own or use Uber’s? Uber provides a large liability & collision insurance policy that covers you and your passengers, but you will also need to show Uber that you’re covered on a personal insurance policy.

If you're shopping around for insurance, you might be able to find a better rate with this insurance provider:
Compare.com

Note: Some insurance providers won't cover you if you say you drive for Uber or Lyft.




Q: My car doesn’t qualify for Uber. Can I still drive? Yes. You can begin the application process even if you don’t have access to an Uber-approved car. You’ll go through the background check and find out if you’re cleared to drive, then you can figure out how to get access to a car.

Q: Is there a vehicle inspection? Yes. You’ll need to have your car inspected by an approved mechanic. In some areas Uber provides Activation Centers that can perform the inspection for free.

Uber lists free vehicle inspection locations at ubermovement.com. The inspector will check safety features like brakes, tires, mirrors, lights, and seat belts. Most well-maintained newer cars should be able to easily pass the inspection. Learn more about the inspection.

Q: What if the car I want to drive isn’t registered in my name? You can drive the car as long as you’re listed on the insurance policy. The car does not have to be registered in your name.

Q: Do I have to pass a background check? Yes. After you apply, you’ll be asked to sign an online consent form that gives Uber permission to run a background check through a third-party service. The background check goes back seven years. Read more about the background check.

Q:  Can I drive for UberX if my car has a salvage title? No. Uber will not accept a car with a salvage title.

Q:  Will Uber give me a smartphone? Yes, but only if you need one. If you already have a smartphone that can run the Uber driver app, you can use your own phone. If you don’t have a smartphone or you would prefer to use Uber’s, Uber will send you an iPhone. There is a $10/week fee to use the Uber phone, so you should only use it if you need it.

Q:  Can I take time off? How often do I have to drive? You have total control over your schedule, so you never need to let Uber know that you’re taking time off. There is no minimum number of hours you need to drive in order to keep your position.

Uber CEO talks about the hiring process

You might not get hired by Lyft if ...

Becoming a Lyft driver is a pretty easy process, but there are a few things you can do to botch the process and ruin your chances of getting hired. If you’re looking to drive very soon, you don’t want to delay the process or sabotage your chances of getting hired by making an easily-avoidable mistakes.
Lyft’s website doesn’t make the driver application process 100% clear, so I can understand why some drivers take awhile to get hired.

The Lyft driver application process can be broken down to three steps

1. The online application. This is where you’ll submit your information: Name, car, location, insurance info, drivers license, etc. 

1. The Mentor Session Welcome Ride. You go on a test ride with a working Lyft driver who checks out your car and makes sure you’re not crazy. Read about the Lyft mentor session in detail. 
2. The background check and driving record check. After you complete your Mentor Session, Lyft runs these two checks and then lets you know if you’re hired or not.

You won’t make it past the Lyft driver application if… You don’t meet the requirements!

To make it past the first stage of the process, you’ll have to meet these requirements: 

• You must be at least 21 years old 
  
• You must own a 4 door car that is year 2003 or newer (2005 in some cities) 
• You must have in-state insurance with your name on the policy 
• Must have an in-state license In-state plates with a current registration (commercial plates are acceptable as well)
• Have a clean driving record and pass a background check

Lyft says: “Prove it!” You must upload documentation that proves you meet the requirements. Basically that just means snapping pictures of your drivers license, your auto insurance, your registration, and your car. After you consent to a background check, Lyft will make sure you’re not a terrible driver or a seasoned felon. 

If you're shopping around for insurance, you might be able to find a better rate with this insurance provider:

Compare.com

Note: Some insurance providers won't cover you if you say you drive for Uber or Lyft.

You need to pass the ‘Mentor Session’ to get hired

On the last page of the Lyft application, you’ll be asked to schedule a “Mentor Session” with a Lyft Mentor. Lyft Mentors are drivers who inspect your car and take you on a test ride called the Welcome Ride. When you request your Welcome Ride, you’ll receive a ride request from the mentor. You accept the request, drive to the mentor, then the mentor inspects your car using a special features of the Lyft app.

You and the Lyft Mentor will go on a brief test drive so the mentor can see if your car is up to Lyft standards (the standards aren’t super high, to be honest). 

 You won’t pass the Mentor Session if… 

• Your car is a damaged, dirty, busted, broken-down hooptie 
  
• You’ll probably fail the Welcome Ride if you didn’t bother to clean your car, or if the air conditioning doesn’t work, or if there are huge dents and dings and paint damage on your car.
• Parking lot scrapes and dings are fine, a bumper lashed onto your car with bungee cables is not fine. 
• You’re a bad driver If you don’t use your turn signals, don’t pay attention to the road, ignore road signs, etc, you’ll fail. 
• Just don’t be a bad driver and you’ll pass. 

 You or your Mentor don’t show up 

If you don’t show up to the Mentor Session, you’ll have to reschedule it. A Mentor should reach out to you to reschedule, but do your best to make it happen the first time! 

You will get hired as a Lyft driver if…

• You have all of your information in order, and you meet the requirements 
• If your car is in decent condition and you take your Lyft Mentor on a pleasant, uneventful Welcome ride 

Need help getting hired? Have questions?

If you have any questions about the hiring process, leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you asap. You can contact Lyft support, but expect to wait a few days before you get a response. There’s also an active community of Lyft, Uber, and other ride sharing drivers who have vrious Facebook and twitter presences. These often have message boards and helpful forums. Once you understand all of the driver requirements you’ll need to meet and you get all of your documentation in order, getting hired by Lyft and giving your first ride can take only a few days.

Rideshare App Lyft Launches in Vegas at LAVO Casino Club at The Palazzo

Lyft CMO, Kira Wampler,
Chairman and CEO of Remark Media, Kai-Shing Tao
and Lyft co-founder and president, John Zimmer at the Lyft launch party

Lyft, an app for welcoming, affordable and memorable rides, celebrated its arrival in Las Vegas with a launch party at LAVO Casino Club at The Palazzo Las Vegas, hosted by VEGAS.com last night. Lyft co-founder and president, John Zimmer, Chief Marketing Officer, Kira Wampler and Chairman and CEO of Remark Media, Kai-Shing Tao welcomed hundreds of guests, who played table games for Lyft credits and learned first-hand from Zimmer about what bringing Lyft to Las Vegas means to the burgeoning company. The event was followed by an after-party at TAO Nightclub at The Venetian, celebrating TAO's 10th anniversary on the Strip and the arrival of Lyft. Guests sipped on signature cocktails including, the Lyftini, the Magenta Mule, and the Lyft Me Up Lemon Drop, as well as enjoyed a variety of appetizers including pork and veal meatballs and an array of flat bread pizzas while celebrating the app's Las Vegas launch.

Guests enjoying the Lyft launch party at the LAVO Casino Club
at The Palazzo Las Vegas

Lyft provides a high-quality and enjoyable experience by focusing on the community and safety. Lyft operates in 65+ cities in the U.S., including Las Vegas, with more than 100,000 drivers on its platform. Lyft is known for connecting passengers with drivers' on-demand and is one of the safest and most affordable options in Las Vegas.

Lyft was founded to reconnect people and communities through better transportation. Co-founded in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer, Lyft is the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S. Available in 65 cities, Lyft is preferred by drivers and passengers for its safe and friendly experience, and its commitment to affecting positive change for the future of our cities. For more information, visit www.lyft.com, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @lyft.

Lyft Line a new shared way to ride

At the time this article was written the service is only available in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco but here's more info about it.

Lyft Launches New " Lyft Line" service. A more affordable method of leaving the car in the drive way for your daily commute. Share the ride with others going the same way, and pay up to 60% less. Lyft Line is the one line that goes everywhere, all for the cool price of your morning latte.

• Affordable Rides - No rush to get there? Share the ride and save money!
• Smartly Routed - Ride with fellow passengers headed in the same direction.
• People Powered - Meet your community, see the names/photos of fellow riders!

Here's how it works!

Open the Lyft App and select 'Line'. Tap the 'request line' button. Lyft will prompt you to enter your starting destination and then start building your line. A few minutes later, the app will match you with a ride that is about to start or is already in progress. The price of your ride is fixed up front. Even if Lyft does not find anotrher passenger, your line will still be at a discounted rate!

You'll get a text message when your line arrives. All you have to do is walk out of the door and hop in!

Download the Lyft App now for either android or IOS (Sorry Windows phone users, Lyft does not currently support your phone)

BlaBlaCar, Long-Distance Ride-Share Enabler, Raises $200 Million More In Venture Funding

BlaBlaCar, a long-distance rideshare broking services provider based in Paris, France, has raised $200 million to expand into emerging markets. BlaBlaCar/website BlaBlaCar, which enables people to share empty seats in their cars with others looking to go their way, helping both parties to save money on travel, especially on long rides, has concluded its fourth round of venture funding, raising 180 million euros ($200 million).

The fourth round of investment, or "Series D," was led by New York's Insight Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital, and Sweden's Vostok New Ventures joined in, BlaBlaCar said, in a press release Thursday. The money will be used to boost growth in markets such as Europe, where the company is well established, and a "phenomenal take-off" in new markets such as Brazil, Asia and other markets in Latin America, the French startup said.

The investment values the startup at $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing the company. Since raising $100 million in July 2014, BlaBlaCar has expanded into seven countries, including Turkey, Mexico and India, where cab-hailing is seeing strong demand with Uber battling it out with local marker leader Ola Cabs.

Ride-sharing BlaBlaCar-style is a growing niche in India, where smartphone-toting young professionals are willing to try anything new, including alternative modes of transport. In India, only about two people in 100 own cars.

Uber, Lyft, and taxi documentary, "Driving for Hire"

WARNING! Video is 1 hour 24 minutes but definitely worth the watch. Credit to the original YouTube poster Taxi Town SF. Please visit his channel and consider subscribing:

Rideshare Cheats SFO: Video is from July 2015 but still interesting

PUC rideshare rules move ahead as Uber celebrates 5 million CO. rides

Rules to regulate Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing services in Colorado are now waiting for final review by the state’s Public Utilities Commission, after administrative law judge Harris Adams made last Friday.

The rules will regulate rider safety and driver qualifications for ridesharing services in the state. “While this is not the final decision, we are encouraged by last week’s recommendation, which follows the intent of the rideshare law passed last year.

We look forward to continuing to serve Coloradans for years to come,” said Will McCollum, general manager of Uber Colorado. Ridesharing became legal in Colorado in June 2014, but the lack of regulations has miffed the taxi industry.
Dozens of cab drivers expressed their concerns at the final public hearing, held in August. On Wednesday, Uber Colorado said its drivers have completed five million trips since it launched here three years ago. Of those, 80 percent took place last year after Colorado passed legislation authorizing the service The company plans to celebrate with its drivers on Thursday at City Park. The company said it has more than 7,000 active drivers in Colorado. Collectively, drivers have earned $80 million in three years. Most of its drivers are in the Denver area

Vegas Ride sharing Woes continue

FOX5 Vegas - KVVU

Ridesharing is now in Vegas!

LYFT went live in Las Vegas today! Uber too. Promo code SINCITY gets a free LYFT ride / $20 credit. HUGE news for ride-hail.... #lasvegas #lyft #uber

Lyft tweaks terms of service after warning

Lyft is revising its terms of service to allow users to continue to use the ridesharing service even if they opt out of receiving promotional messages. The change, implemented over the weekend, is a reaction to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warning that the company was violating robocall laws. The company now allows users to specifically opt out of receiving autodialed or prerecorded “promotional” texts and calls. “You may opt-out of receiving promotional or marketing texts or calls from Lyft at any time by texting the word END to 46080 from the mobile device receiving the messages,” according to a new paragraph added to the terms of service. Previously, if users wanted to stop receiving promotional messages, they had to unsubscribe from all messages — meaning they would no longer be able to hail rides using the service. That option is still available by sending the word “STOPALL” to 46080.

The app-based company denied that it was using promotional texts to “spam users with unwanted communications.” Lyft also provided more detailed opt-out guidelines on their FAQ page. The FCC has noted that the previous unsubscribe option was difficult to locate. The FCC bars nearly all autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts to mobile phones without consent. It also bars those same kind of telemarketing calls to landlines. In addition, it prohibits companies from requiring consent as a condition of purchasing a product or service. And companies are supposed to notify customers of their right to refuse the calls. "To protect consumers from being forced to give consent unwillingly, FCC rules forbid requiring consumers to agree to receive marketing robocalls and autodialed calls/texts as a condition of purchasing any goods, services, or property," the commission wrote in a press release publicizing its warning to Lyft and another company, First National Bank. In a message announcing its changes, Lyft pointed to Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly’s statement last week criticizing the agency’s enforcement bureau for going after the company. He said the move highlighted the commission's "complete cluelessness when it comes to the tech economy."

Typical Rideshare footage broadcast on Meerkat

Thank You for visiting Mr. Rideshare's blog

Mr. Rideshare

I decided to do this blog to provide a source of information on the ever expanding sharing community. Ridesharing has gone from strength to strength with new uses being generated every day. I recently noted that Uber is or has been utilized as a ride service to take your kids to or from school (comes in handy if the distance to school is long but not long enough to qualify for a school bus pickup). It could also be used an an Uberlance, non emergency hospital transportation. Although the taxi industry and municipalities have been wrangling and fighting to keep the ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft out of their cities, it is inevitable that the ridesharing concept is here to stay. We have seen many businesses form recently, from food delivery services such as door dash to package delivery such as sidecar.

I wanted to thank those of you that have taken time to look at my blog and promise that I will try to post at least one article a day to keep the blog fresh and everyone engaged. I would like this to be YOUR blog too, so any suggestions on what you might like to see here related to the sharing community industry please let me know.

Thanks again for the Lyft in blog visits!

Lyft kicks off as the first licensed rideshare company in Nevada

The state has licensed its first ride-hailing company. San Francisco-based Lyft, the smaller of two companies applying for transportation network company status before the Nevada Transportation Authority, won approval in a unanimous vote of the three-member board on Monday. Board members spent about 90 minutes reviewing the application. Lyft rival Uber was expected to be considered for licensing later in the meeting. Lyft plans to have 2,500 cars on the road in its first two years of operation and, by regulation, must be operating by Oct. 14.

Lyft will charge a $2.40 base charge, $1.85 per mile, 30 cents per minute and a $5 cancellation fee if a customer cancels more than five minutes after first hailing a ride. There's also a $5 minimum fare. Lyft also will have a "safe rides" fee of $1.55. The company also will have "Prime Time" dynamic pricing during the city's busiest periods. That's a supply-and-demand system that encourages eligible drivers to operate when a major event is occurring and rides are needed in certain parts of town. Company executives said the higher price would be capped at three times the basic rate Lyft became the first company to be licensed, but it was Uber that paved the way for ride-hailing companies to operate legally in the state. Uber operated in Nevada for about a month in late October and November last year. There are other smaller ride-hailing companies operating across the country, but Uber and Lyft are the only ones that have expressed interest in operating within the state.

Ridesharing continues to integrate into daily life

FCC scolds Lyft for forcing users to opt in to automated texts

The FCC has recently been publicizing its crusade against robo-calls, and it looks like the latest company under fire from the Commission is ride-hailing startup Lyft. In a stern order sent today, the FCC accuses Lyft of unlawfully requiring users to opt-in to automated calls and text messages, only to make opting out near-impossible.The order says that Lyft's terms of service require users to "expressly consent" to receiving automated text messages and calls, despite FCC regulations banning companies from making automated calls a requirement of service. The FCC also accuses Lyft of making instructions for opting out difficult to find. When they do, according to the Commission, opting out of texts also makes users opt out of security confirmation texts. "Accordingly, the evidence shows that Lyft's opt-out representations are illusory in nature, and Lyft effectively requires all consumers to agree to receive marketing text messages and calls on their mobile phones in order to use services," the order reads. Lyft is only the most recent company to get caught up in the FCC's crackdown on telemarketing systems. Last month, the FCC levied a nearly $3 million fine against a travel marketer for making unsolicited calls, and today the Commission similarly chastised First National Bank today for requiring customers to sign up for automated messages before using online banking or Apple Pay. Neither First National nor Lyft was fined by the FCC for the automated programs, but said suggested they would be if they don't change their ways.

First Uber pickups at LAX could be a trick or treat experience

On Aug. 25 the L.A. City Council voted once and for all to open LAX's upper level to ride-hailing pickups, which previously had been outlawed. This means that UberX, Lyft, Sidecar and other app-based companies that let everyday drivers use their cars to make extra cash can be hailed via smartphone at the international airport. It's a good thing for all you Uber fans out there, we know. But it's not happening immediately The ride-hailing companies were free to submit applications to pick up at LAX following that vote, but the firms have been moving slowly

It could, for example, be Halloween season before you see an UberX vehicle legally pick someone up at the airport. LAX spokeswoman Mary Grady says city officials have estimated it should take about a month for the application process to be completed and pickups to begin. That's once applications are submitted and certain requirements are met. The problem is, Uber hasn't even submitted its application for airport pickups yet. We were told that the company was in the process of completing its application and will have it submitted in a matter of weeks. Lyft says it submitted an application electronically and mailed the hard-copy version just this week. "We received confirmation from the permits office yesterday that they had gotten that hard copy," a spokeswoman told us. The ride-hailing companies lobbied hard for the opportunity to pick up at LAX, and they faced stiff opposition from cab companies, which have long argued that firms like Uber have the unfair advantage of operating outside stiff taxi regulations (disabled pickup requirements, mandatory drives through under-served neighborhoods, higher insurance costs). It's strange to see that the apps haven't hopped to it faster. Even with the applications in hand, it's a guess as to how long it will take to get final approval for pickups, Grady said. "It's hard to say how long it's going to take because we haven't done this yet," she said. "They're going to have to meet the requirements." Most of you are saying "Godspeed." Unless you drive a taxi.

Will Google & Waze's Carpool App Ever Compete With Uber?

Google’s Waze made big news the other day when it announced that it would be testing a carpool service in Israel that lets commuters share rides for a small fee.
The service, called RideWith, is aimed at connecting drivers on their way to work with passengers traveling along the same route. There’s obviously major competition in this space, most notably Uber’s carpooling service UberPool, but RideWith appears to initially be focused on a different market.
DriveWith will target commuters, on their way to/from work, taking what are known as incidental trips. Incidental trips are rides that would have been taken regardless of whether they were shared or not.  Uber currently offers a shared ride feature called UberPool in select cities but it’s unclear what percentage of these shared rides are incidental trips. There’s actually a good argument that Uber’s low fares and services like UberPool could be putting more cars on the road by making transportation so accessible. Many passengers who may have opted for walking, public transportation or even carpooling in the past have now switched to Uber.

The Problem With Carpooling Carpooling has traditionally struggled because of the cost (not always monetary either) of finding a suitable match. Typing out a flyer for carpoolers, printing it and putting it on a bulletin board at work isn’t exactly the model of efficiency. But technology has made that process a lot easier. We know that there are millions of solo rides every single day with lots of people headed to/from the same general area so it makes sense to figure out a way to combine a majority of those rides. Tech solutions will handle that problem with ease but the real question is whether there is enough incentive for these drivers to partake.

Governor Scott supports statewide regulations for rideshare companies

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Gov. Rick Scott says he believes that there should be a statewide decision made on how to fairly regulate rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft.

Scott said Wednesday after a speech to an education summit in Orlando that he thinks that the state Legislature will tackle the issue during its next regular session and pass a bill that is fair for all sides and for consumers.

In April, both the Florida House and Senate debated bills that called for a new form of liability insurance for the companies.

The Senate passed a bill the required rideshare companies to have insurance regulated by the state. A House version banned local government from passing regulations to ban rideshare companies and allowed for insurance not regulated by Florida.

Mr. Rideshare is coming to Los Angeles this holiday season.

Good News. Mr.Rideshare will be coming to Los Angeles this holiday season. We operate a clean SUV Vehicle that seats 5 passengers in comfort.

Travel in style with the following amenities:

• Premium AC
• Sirius Satellite radioConvenient high speed charging ports front and rear to quick charge your electronic devices (Apple and Android cables available)
• Cool bottled water
• Snacks and streaming in car video
• In car Mobile Broadband Hot Spot (Connect your non wireless devices to the internet via personal password protected wi-fi access

Plus, take part in our live Meerkat streaming sessions. We broadcast our trips live over the internet (Passenger permission required). Camera is front facing by default. You can interact with our viewers if you want to join in the fun!!
Special discounts available. We proudly serve the downtown and LAX corridor, theme parks and attractions.

Contact us today for more information. In the meantime check out the Uber service in Los Angeles here

Chinese ride-sharing company is funding fellow Uber competitors

Uber's biggest Chinese rival, Didi Kuaidi, has invested an undisclosed amount in Lyft, according to The Wall Street Journal. It's still unclear how the pink mustache-loving firm will use the money, but it's already begun discussions with its Chinese investors. Didi Kuaidi is a joint venture between Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache, two of China's former biggest taxi-hailing services, which joined forces earlier this year to stave off Uber's growth in their home country. Turns out part of the merger's strategy is to force the American ride-sharing firm to focus on other markets, including the US, by helping fellow Uber competitors grow. Back in August, it also agreed to back GrabTaxi -- another fellow competitor operating in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Since Uber hasn't exactly been keeping quiet about its plans to conquer China and other Asian nations, it's only natural for the joint venture to protect its business. At the moment, Didi Kuaidi's still the bigger company within the nation, with a value of around $16 billion, but its execs are obviously hoping that this strategy successfully redirects Uber's attention. Competition for Uber is going to be really important if we're going to have a viable TaaS (Transportation as a Service) infrastructure.  Lets be clear, Uber is where Netflix is when they mailed out DVDs... their goal is TaaS with rob-cars, they want to make a dime a mile on every mile everyone in the world drives (very roughly 100 Billion miles a year in the US is 10 Billion a year profit ... just in the US).  We have a few years left before automated cars drop the price of TaaS to a point where it's radically cheaper to use a service than to own a car.  The cost of operating a battery electric car (BEC) is already dramatically lower than an ICE vehicle 270 miles in a Tesla at 85kwh costs around $10 (that's 4 cents a mile, you'll pay more for tires, for a car that gets 40mpg gas would have to cost less than $1.50 a gallon for this to be true, additionally there is almost no mechanical maintenance on an BEC ),  as the legal barriers to robo-cars fall away the availability of robo-cars is going to reach ubiquity rapidly.  Anyone who's 14 or younger is probably going to look at car buying as crazy.  Advantages: no parking, cheaper transportation, safer and faster transportation, rapid move away from fossil fuels.  Disadvantages: huge loss of jobs, complex legal cases,  people forced to wake up to automation led job-copalypse.  

Uber, Lyft could be on Las Vegas streets by October

The Nevada Transportation Authority, charged with shepherding this rule-crafting process for this new ride-hailing industry, recently approved emergency regulations that were limited to the application process to comply with the recently approved state bill.



The legislation signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval authorizes a service that connects passengers with drivers through smartphone apps.
The three-member transportation authority have meet again and discussed applications and there’s a chance that a ride-sharing company could submit an application shortly. But then, at least two workshops will have to be scheduled and staged to discuss the industry rules in the upcoming weeks.“I won’t sacrifice public safety for expediency,” Transportation Authority commissioner George Assad told about 35 people packed in a small meeting room at the authority office in Las Vegas.Steve Thompson, general manager for Uber Nevada, refused to comment after the meeting, saying San Francisco-based Uber will email a statement. Taylor Patterson of Uber sent an email, attributing to Thompson this statement: “Nevadans are demanding more transportation options and economic opportunities in their state. Uber is working with the NTA to approve regulations to bring Uber back to Nevada as soon as possible.”Chelsea Wilson, a spokesperson for San Francisco-based Lyft, said it would take about two months to begin service and that the company looks forward to working with the state to craft the new industry rules.>The authority meeting, jointly held in Reno, attracted five speakers between the two cities. One of the speakers, Tony Clark, owner of 24/7 Limousines, said after the meeting that he has accepted that Uber will operate in Nevada, but he was concerned that Uber drivers would pick up passengers through illegal street-hailing and the customers would not be covered by appropriate insurance. Clark and others can attend workshops to add their comments. On July 1, the authority is prepared to schedule two workshop and each workshop requires a 15-day advance notice. Clark noted the state will have to spend more money to regulate the added rideshare industry. A cab driver, Alfredo Sardinas, told the authority that he did not oppose the new ride-sharing businesses and that taxi drivers are forced to drive 12-hour shifts. After the meeting, Uber’s Thompson thanked Sardinas for his testimony before the authority.

BlaBlaCar Is Raising $160 Million From Insight, Valuing Ride-Sharing Startup At $1.2 Billion

A little more than a year after announcing a $100 million mega-round, we’re hearing from multiple sources that long-distance ride-sharing platform BlaBlaCar is in the process of raising another round with Insight Venture Partners. Mr. Rideshare has learned that the French startup is raising $160 million at a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion.

Insight Venture Partners is leading the round with a significant syndicate of business angels. This Series D round values the company above $1 billion for the first time. A source said that the deal has already closed.

Existing investors include Index Ventures, Accel Partners, ISAI and Lead Edge Capital. It seems like they are not involved in this new round.

As a reminder, BlaBlaCar is a marketplace where you can find a driver who is driving from one city to another and book a seat in advance. It connects people with empty seats with riders. Drivers can make a bit of money while riders can travel for cheap. Like Airbnb, the company takes a small cut on every ride (currently around 15-20 percent).

BlaBlaCar also has a significant network effect. The more people use it, the more rides you will find even at the last minute, and even if you are going from a tiny city to another tiny city. It is sometimes much more effective and cheaper than a train ride.

Last year when the company announced its previous round of funding, BlaBlaCar operated in 12 countries and had 8 million members. It is now available in 17 countries, including in non-European countries, such as India and Mexico. The company alsoacquired its biggest competitor Carpooling.com and its 6 million members.

As BlaBlaCar needs to tweak its model a bit for every country and comply with local regulators, it has many local offices focused on a particular market in Madrid, Milan, Warsaw, Hamburg, London, Moscow, Istanbul, New Delhi, Budapest and Mexico DF. That’s why the company needs a lot of cash to fuel its aggressive expansion strategy.

While Uber encountered a few bumps along the road in France, BlaBlaCar doesn’t face any legal issue as it promotes a revenue sharing model, and not a profit-seeking model — it’s like asking for your friends to chip in for gas. A 200-mile ride costs $25 on average.

India is obviously a big potential as trains are slow and it is one of the most densely populated area in the world, but the company has been around for much longer in Europe — and BlaBlaCar is still beating all its key performance indicators in Europe. Growth in France, which the team considered as a mature market, is still accelerating. And then, there is the U.S.

Every time I’ve asked about a potential expansion to the U.S., the company has given me the same answer with multiple reasons why it doesn’t make sense to go the U.S. — gas is cheap, and cities are too big and too far away from each other. But maybe this new round will make the company change its mind.

Uber Pays up Carnegie Mellon

Uber originally poached around 50 scientists that were working on the self-driving car technology at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center earlier this year. Uber had been partnering with CMU to research building its own autonomous vehicles. But then it pulled from massive venture funding warchest making the idea of moving to Uber very lucrative to the CMU talent base. The poached scientists would eventually work at the Uber Advanced Technologies Center.

Now, Uber appears to be publicly trying to win back the good graces of the academic community by announcing a $5.5 million gift to CMU. The money will support hiring a new robotics faculty chair and three fellowships.

In a statement, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick wrote “partnerships between corporations and universities can be so powerful.  Tech companies, by their nature, focus on nearer-term engineering challenges that can push their business forward.  While universities work to advance the state of the art.”

The gift extends the original partnership between Uber and CMU which included an undisclosed amount of funding from Uber.

Being seen as an ally to academia could be important for Uber’s long-term bet on self-driving cars. The publicity of this monetary gift could aid Uber in forging partnerships with more research institutions. While it may have billions in the bank, Uber will still likely need help perfecting the technology that could replace human drivers and save it tons of money.

Self driving vehicles are part of a long term evolution  plan for the company along with further global expansion that has already begun.

Technology and Ridesharing grows

Uber and Lyft are big leaders in the new one tap economy. With the proliferation of smart phones everyone wants to tap a button and bam there's the service. Now you can order your Starbucks ahead of time and even order a pizza with an emoji. Traditional forms of the service industry are under attack as the business models change gears at an alarming pace. Even the juggernauts of industry like UPS  and the post office are going to have to stand up and take notice. Startup companies such as shyp  and sidecar will be slowly inching into the package delivery business using smartphone resource sharing apps that allow faster and faster pickups and delivery. A post office in Sweden has even started delivery via drone now and Amazon is still ironing out the legal requirements to spread the use of drones for just such a purpose here. One thing for certain is, technology will help save fossil fuels as the number of vehicle usage hours will diminish as the network grows.