Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Uber Reportedly Looking to Buy Huge Amount of Autonomous Cars

posted by cmn32480 on Monday March 21 2016, @05:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the driverless-taxi-cabs dept.

takyon writes:

Uber may be looking to purchase thousands of autonomous cars, but it seems that no deal has been finalized:

Ride-hailing service Uber has sounded out car companies about placing a large order for self-driving cars, an auto industry source said on Friday. "They wanted autonomous cars," the source, who declined to be named, said. "It seemed like they were shopping around."

Loss-making Uber would make drastic savings on its biggest cost -- drivers -- if it were able to incorporate self-driving cars into its fleet. Volkswagen's Audi, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, BMW and car industry suppliers Bosch and Continental are all working on technologies for autonomous or semi-autonomous cars.

Earlier on Friday, Germany's Manager Magazin reported that Uber had placed an order for at least 100,000 Mercedes S-Class cars, citing sources at both companies. The top-flight limousine, around 100,000 of which Mercedes-Benz sold last year, does not yet have fully autonomous driving functionality.

Another source familiar with the matter said no order had been placed with Mercedes-Benz. Daimler and Uber declined to comment.

Auto industry executives are wary of doing deals with newcomers from the technology and software business who threaten to upend established business models based on manufacturing and selling cars. "We don't want to end up like Nokia's handset business, which was once hugely profitable...then disappeared," a second auto industry source said about doing a deal with Uber. [...] Earlier this week Mercedes rival BMW said it was considering launching its own ride hailing service in what would amount to a rival business to Uber.

An order of 100,000 Mercedes S-Class cars would cost billions, even with a steep discount. Reuters hasn't removed the reference to the 100,000 Mercedes-Benz cars, as seen above.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Uber Reportedly Looking to Buy Huge Amount of Autonomous Cars | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 33 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 21 2016, @03:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 21 2016, @03:22PM (#321117)

    I don't understand how Uber has avoided being considered an employer at least in Washington State. Our Worker's Comp system covers employees and independent contractors where the essence of the contract is personal labor. As for independent cab drivers who lease their vehicles, it has already been decided in WA that those drivers are workers and the cab companies responsible for Industrial Insurance premiums.

    In WA, many employers try to escape workers comp by calling their workers "independent contractors" -- except in this state, they are covered if the essence of the contract is personal labor. For example, if you have a crane mounted on a barge that can haul up sunk boats and you get hired by someone, the essence of that contract is the use of the major piece of equipment. If you have a truck and get hired to deliver stuff, the essence of that contract is personal labor.

    http://www.leagle.com/decision/198214831WnApp117_1136/ [leagle.com]

    The employers' "lease drivers" work under and pursuant to the terms of an independent contract which each driver executes with either of the two taxi companies who are parties to this appeal. The only real question is whether the essence of each driver's work is "his or her personal labor". RCW 51.08.180.

    Under the terms of the "day-to-day" leases the driver is free to utilize the taxicab in any legal manner and for any legal purpose subject only to the proviso that:

    The taxi cab shall not be operated by any person except by the Lessee or his regular employees. And such employees shall be duly qualified and licensed to drive and over the age of 25 years.

    It seems eminently clear that the "lease drivers" perform functions essentially the same as those few employees of the lessor companies who regularly drive taxis as employees. Under that fact pattern, the essence of the lease contract is the personal labor of the lessees. They contribute nothing to the contract except their personal labor. ...

    In all the definitive case law interpreting the "personal labor" aspect of RCW 51.08.180, the court has insisted that in order to avoid the categorization of "workman" (or more recently as "worker"), the person whose labor is being utilized must of necessity supply to the work effort some machinery or equipment (as distinguished from the usual hand-tools). See White v. Department of Labor & Indus., 48 Wn.2d 470, 294 P.2d 650 (1956), and cases cited therein.

    We conclude, therefore, that these "lease drivers" are "workers" within the meaning of the workers compensation act.