UBER UPDATE
UBER SIGNS DEAL WITH UK’S ARRIVAL TO DEVELOP ‘PURPOSE-BUILT’ ELECTRIC CAR
UBER SET ASIDE £600M AFTER HAVING TO CLASSIFY UK DRIVERS AS WORKERS
Uber has revealed a partnership with a UK van and bus-maker to produce an electric car that aims to be “purpose-built” for its drivers. Sky News reports that the ride-hailing app said the Arrival Car would be developed with input from those who would use it and aim to go into production in late 2023. Key priorities for the car include affordability, comfort and range, Uber said, as its current 70,000 UK drivers complete more than 31,000 miles annually. Arrival, which went public earlier this year, and Uber said that in addition to the work on the Arrival Car they would also explore a strategic relationship in key markets overseas including the United States. The UK is on course to ban the sale of new conventionally- powered cars from 2030 as petrol and diesel emissions are targeted in the battle against climate change. Uber plans to be a fully electric mobility platform in London by 2025, and across North America and Europe by 2030. The company has raised more than £135m to help its drivers in London upgrade to an electric vehicle by 2025. It announced last week plans to recruit an additional 20,000 drivers. Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional manager for northern and eastern Europe, said: “Our focus is now on encouraging drivers to use this money to help them upgrade to an electric vehicle, and our partnership with Arrival will help us achieve this goal.” Arrival’s senior vice president for mobility in the UK, Tom Elvidge, said: “We are confident that electrifying ride-hailing vehicles will have an outsized impact on cities, and we are keen to support drivers as they manage this transition. “Arrival Car will be designed around drivers’ needs to create a vehicle that is affordable, durable and desirable.”
28
Uber has set aside $600m to resolve “historical claims” relating to its private hire drivers in the UK after it lost a legal battle over their employment rights. Sky News reports that the company said in March that it would give basic protections to 70,000 drivers in the country, following the Supreme Court defeat earlier in the year which meant they had to be classed as workers rather than self-employed contractors. A senior executive told Sky News at the time that it would be contacting its private hire drivers with settlement offers to make up for shortfalls in past pay. First quarter financial results published in the US on Wednesday 5 May disclosed how much that is expected to cost. The company said: “Uber has launched a process to resolve historical claims from UK drivers relating to their classification under UK law.” It said revenues were reduced by $600m “due to the accrual made” to resolve the claims. That meant revenues for the quarter were down by 11% compared to the same period a year ago, to $2.9bn. Without the UK provision they would have grown by 8%. But the company’s bottom-line loss narrowed to $108m - thanks to a $1.6bn gain from the sale of its autonomous driving unit ATG - compared to a $2.9bn shortfall in the first quarter of 2020. Uber’s ride-hailing or “mobility” division has suffered a big downturn as a result of the Covid pandemic restric- tions over the past year, contrasting with the success of its food delivery arm Uber Eats, which has prospered at a time when dining out has been banned in many places. In the first quarter, mobility bookings were down 38% on the previous year at $6.8bn, though roughly flat on the last three months of 2020. Delivery bookings were up by 166% to $12.5bn year-on-year. Uber’s results come after it had already signalled signs of recovery, mainly thanks to vaccinations and the loosening of restrictions in the US. It said last month that March had been the best month in the company’s nearly 12-year history, with its mobility business reporting the most bookings since the start of the pandemic and delivery demand outstripping driver supply.
Announcing the latest results, chief executive Dara Khos- rowshahi said: “Uber is starting to fire on all cylinders, as more consumers are riding with us again while continuing to use our expanding delivery offerings.”
JUNE 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
