Scooternomics:
- Quartz determined the average lifespan of a Bird scooter in Louisville to be 28.8 days. LINK
- Nathan Stevens estimates, liability and safety aside, that scooter operators are losing between $200-250/scooter on hardware and charging alone before factoring in maintenance, city fees, marketing, etc. LINK
According to court filings, Uber’s self-driving car unit was burning $20 million a month. Uber reported a net loss of $865 million in the last quarter of 2018 and has never made a profit. LINK
NYC’s small businesses want congestion pricing because they think taxing drivers will improve public transportation for their employees & customers. LINK
Private taxi drivers, some of whom drive for Uber, are taking legal action against the mayor of London over what they claim is a racially discriminatory congestion pricing. Around 94 percent of those affected are from ethnic minorities, while exempt “black cab” drivers are majority white. LINK
REPORT: Driverless cars are ‘more likely to run over black people’. LINK
H/T Jerald Callaway via electronic mail.
VIDEO: Carlos Ghosn leaves Tokyo jail disguised as a construction worker after posting $9m in bail. He wore overalls, a cap, and a face mask. To complete the Super Mario themed escape, he hopped into a silver Suzuki van with a workman’s ladder strapped to its roof. The media was not fooled and followed him to his lawyer’s office. LINK
- FLASHBACK: Mr. Ghosn, who headed the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance, has been charged with falsifying financial reports, under-reporting his income and breach of trust in having Nissan Motor shoulder personal investment losses and make payments to a Saudi businessman. LINK
Jetpack Aviation (JPA) is now accepting pre-orders for its $380,000 flying motorcycle. According to JPA, The jet-powered Speeder can climb to 15,000 feet at speeds up to 150 mph. You can reserve one for $10K. LINK
San Francisco Startup BlackBird has raised $10 million to replace ride-hailing with fly-hailing. They currently have more than 700 commercial pilots who fly passengers between 50 and 500 miles from and within California. LINK
Chinese-owned Swedish Automaker Volvo will impose a speed limit of about 112 miles per hour (180 km/h) on all of its vehicles beginning in 2020 to reduce fatalities. They are also investigating using geofencing technology that would automatically reduce car speeds around schools and hospitals. LINK
Here are the Top 10 US cities with the most aggressive drivers. Friday is the most aggressive driving day of the week, Wednesday is the least. Shockingly NYC didn’t make the list. Take a guess what city is #1? LINK
