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Timothy Anderson, a former taxi driver, was arrested for the murder of a Uber driver in Okaloosa county, Florida. Filip Kirilov was found Sunday morning shot to death. Allegedly, he was a known opponent of Uber, citing declining business in an interview and recruiting other taxi drivers to take legal action against the ride share company. Anderson was identified and linked to the murder with surveillance equipment in the victim's car and Uber records. Police are calling the murder an isolated incident and believe the motive was revenge.
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Former Taxi Driver Arrested for Murder of Uber Driver
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
TOO BAD YOU CAN'T BUY a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin
real fast and freak everybody out.
-- Jack Handey, The New Mexican, 1988.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bitstream on Wednesday July 04 2018, @01:44AM (4 children)
Already in 1811 [wikipedia.org] these kinds of events happened.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @03:47AM (3 children)
Uber is not a case of superior technology that puts people out of a job, which is what the Luddites disliked.
Uber is a case of a company circumventing regulations.
Now, when Uber cars are self-driving, THEN you can cite the example of Luddites in a manner which is germane to the situation.
But this current Uber situation has very little to do with technology and everything to do with dodging existing regulatory structure.
Personally I think the taxi drivers have a legitimate beef. Uber is sneaking around the rules and that has acted to fuck the traditional taxi companies. Uber should be subject to the same rules as traditional taxis, or go home.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 04 2018, @04:32AM
Uber made a bet on aggressive regulation circumvention that seems to have paid off.
The rapid popularity of app-based ride-hailing scared off many jurisdictions, or they were just too slow to act by default. Some locations even embraced Uber and Lyft. Only a handful of locations took strong actions against Uber, such as arresting Uber execs in Paris, or the ban in Austin, TX. Uber was able to tailor their service to continue to dodge regulations (with services like UberPool), or just quit until pressure mounted to bring ride-hailing back. Looks like the Texas legislature overruled Austin's ban [engadget.com]. By now, elected officials don't want to be held responsible for banning Uber. So Uber can get away with... murder.
Eventually, Uber will try to kick drivers to the curb permanently. They can't exactly dodge regulations given the high-profile avoidable death that they caused, and the fact that cars with nobody in the driver's seat are highly conspicuous compared to the illegal Uber drivers of the past. But state legislatures will probably override the whims of locals and permit the service, especially since so many companies want to see it happen. Since the rollout won't happen all at once, maybe you could see some Uber drivers going on strike. But they'll just be replaced by more desperate drivers or eventually driverless. That leaves the passengers, who will be tempted by far cheaper rates per mile. Various estimates [cityobservatory.org] put the cost per mile under both Uber/taxis and personal vehicle ownership, and it has also been suggested that individuals could buy an autonomous car and let Uber drive it part-time [marketwatch.com], which might allow them to make their money back while Uber reduces some of its logistical issues.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @08:35AM
Maybe not where I live, but over here, Uber allows you to use an app that locates the closest driver who can then pick you up in a couple of minutes, where a Taxi would require you to call a "phone number", assuming you could locate the right one, and then talk to a rude human, who will then tell you that your taxi will be there in three hours.
It was so superior technology that taxi companies announced that they were looking into developing an app of their own, as well as seek to have Uber banned. Unfortunately, the attempt to have Uber banned was successful, and as a result there has been no talk of creating a taxi app since.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @09:53AM
Of course when Uber cars are self-driving, shooting the driver will not be considered murder but criminal damage, because that driver will not be a human.