Bloomberg – September 13, 2017
Ride-hailing apps and car-sharing services have been called existential threats to automakers as we know them, but General Motors Co. is looking to fight fire with fire. Or, in this case, robots with robots.
American Institute for Economic Research – September 8, 2017
In a Daily Economy post this week, Paz Gomez correctly points out that the sharing economy (which includes decentralized platforms such as Uber and Airbnb) is an affirmation, rather than a rejection, of free market capitalism. I’ll go even further: the sharing economy, at least in its most currently successful applications, has nothing to do with sharing at all. Someone owns or leases an apartment or car and uses that capital asset to provide a service to a customer at a mutually agreed-upon price. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
Lyft is partnering with yet another self-driving car startup — this time with Drive.ai in the San Francisco Bay Area — to launch a pilot program that will shuttle ride-sharing customers to their destinations in vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence, not humans.
The evolution of work is becoming a battle between flexibility and stability. The sharing economy offers people unprecedented opportunities to work when, where, and as much as they want. But it also threatens a future in which stable, well-paying jobs cede to temporary gigs with few protections. Lawmakers wonder: How do we stoke new-economy industries without burning up old-economy security?
A majority of Americans say that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft are good for the country, but they are less positive about online shopping for groceries and merchandise — at the expense of traditional supermarkets and department stores, according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The New York Times – September 5, 2017
With just one parking space for every five people, on a campus of roughly 65,000, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has one of the lowest parking ratios of any major university in the country. But Gary A. Brown, the director of campus planning, is reluctant to add any spaces right away. When Mr. Brown looks into the future, he sees a campus even more reliant on ride-hailing services like Uber and car-sharing services like Zipcar, as well as the likely emergence of autonomous vehicles, trends that could substantially decrease parking demand.
Techspective – September 5, 2017
Technology has been creating and disrupting industries across the globe for many decades now. When it comes to the automobile sector, one clear space where tech is having an impact is in carsharing. While in the past people who needed temporary access to wheels had to borrow a vehicle from a friend or family member, or pay to rent a car for a whole day or week, today carsharing websites are linking car owners with drivers and creating a whole new way of getting access to four wheels.
Arizona Daily Star – September 5, 2017
Most workers got holiday pay for clocking in on Labor Day, but for a rapidly growing sector of the labor force it was just another day on the job.
Star Tribune – September 2, 2017
It is no accident that drivers are spending more time and money to park in Minneapolis. City officials have been holding back downtown parking construction for years. Lately they have doubled down, investing in bicycle lanes and approving new apartment buildings with few parking spaces that encourage people to find ways besides cars to get around.
TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press – September 2, 2017
St. Paul Smart Trips, which recently merged with Transit for Livable Communities, is a nonprofit that educates the public about safer and easier transportation options in St. Paul and addresses local transportation issues. Young people in Smart Trips’ youth program, such as Hersi, also have served as transportation advocates in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.
