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Tech News
Uber is offering some drivers cash bonuses for completing a set number of rides in a short window, according to Business Insider, which viewed screenshots including one $525 offer for 45 trips. Other deals translate to roughly $10-$12 extra per ride, and Uber is also paying up to $1,225 in referral bonuses for recruiting new or lapsed drivers.
Waymo announced plans to bring its self-driving ride-hailing service to Toronto, starting with manual-driving mapping and testing phases before a planned 2028 launch for riders. The company is partnering with Toronto-based Element Fleet Management for fleet operations and maintenance, and says it will create hundreds of jobs across driving, customer service and operations roles.
Lyft has agreed to pay $272.5 million to resolve a lawsuit filed in 2020 by the California Labor Commissioner's Office, which accused the company of wrongly classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The case alleged drivers were denied minimum wage, overtime, sick leave and timely wage payments between April 2016 and December 2020. The settlement still requires court approval, and the Labor Commissioner's Office says it will forgo its share so funds go directly to drivers who filed wage claims.
Lyft has revived its election-season program, first launched in 2014, giving riders across the U.S. access to free or discounted rides to voting locations. The initiative spans from major cities like Manhattan to remote areas such as Alaska.
inDrive, the fare-negotiation rival to Uber, is scaling up new business lines including advertising, delivery and financial services that it began building over the past year. Its ad business, piloted in mid-2025, now runs in 25 markets, delivering more than 2 billion impressions and drawing over 2,000 paying advertisers monthly, two-thirds of whom return. The company is installing new leadership to grow these units alongside its core ride-hailing service across 1,200+ cities in 48 countries.
Lyft has begun integrating Waymo's self-driving vehicles into its ride-hail app in Nashville, marking the first time it has partnered with a major autonomous vehicle company rather than smaller AV startups. Instead of removing human drivers entirely, Lyft is shifting some of its Flexdrive rental-service workers into roles cleaning, repairing, and positioning the Waymo vehicles at a depot ahead of an 80,000-square-foot facility opening in October.
Uber abruptly halted its operations in Nigeria and Uganda's Kampala on a single day, sending an email notice announcing the wind-down that arrived the same day service was cut. Some drivers and passengers were left stranded mid-trip as the app stopped working with no prior warning, sparking outrage on social media dubbed the 'Uber rapture.' Uber had run in Nigeria since 2014 and in Kampala since 2016.
Uber is eliminating more than 3,000 positions worldwide, about 10% of its staff, returning headcount to roughly 2021 levels near 30,000 employees. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company had grown too many management layers and small teams, slowing decisions, and the cuts will consolidate teams while freeing funds for priority areas like autonomous vehicles and delivery.
Uber confirmed on Wednesday it is cutting roughly 3,300 jobs, or about 10% of its 34,000-person workforce as reported in its latest annual filing. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi framed the move as an effort to make the company 'simpler' and 'faster,' without citing artificial intelligence as a driver of the cuts. Uber's stock rose following the announcement.
Uber announced it will reduce its workforce by 10%, aiming to eliminate layers of management and cut costs. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees the restructuring will simplify operations and free up resources to invest in areas like autonomous vehicles, where Uber has pledged over $10 billion. The company, which had roughly 34,000 employees at the end of 2025, did not disclose exact job-cut figures but confirmed shares rose nearly 2% following the announcement.
A former Uber and Uber Eats employee who spent a decade eliminating friction from everyday consumer experiences describes now personally paying to reintroduce it into their own life. The reflection contrasts the seamless, one-tap conveniences built by companies like Uber with a deliberate choice to seek out slower, more effortful alternatives.