If you're in the Phoenix, AZ area and you'd like to take a ride in a self-driving car, Alphabet-owned Waymo now offers an iOS app. Waymo One serves Phoenix's East Valley area presently, though the company hopes to expand over time.
Uber is testing a new service that offers customers a less expensive fare if they agree to wait a little bit longer for a ride. The feature is currently being tested by Uber employees, according to Quartz, which has received confirmation from Uber.
Uber for iPhone was updated on App Store yesterday and it brings back seamless integration with Apple Maps and the ability to hail a ride using the Siri smart assistant, the two features that were removed without explanation from the previous update issued in January.
An update to Uber for iPhone, dated January 22, has nixed integration with Siri and Apple Maps.
Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chixung has successfully raised more than $5.5 billion from investors to bankroll an expansion beyond China and into driver-less technology.
Bloomberg reported Friday that Didi, which counts Apple as one of its backers, disclosed the latest round of financing in an emailed statement.
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is near an agreement to raise $5 billion to $6 billion for automated driving expansion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The financing round will lift Didi’s valuation to a cool $50 billion, up from a previous $34 billion after its acquisition of Uber’s China business. It would make the Beijing-based company the country's top startup by market valuation, even surpassing handset maker Xiaomi, and the most valuable startup in the world after Uber.
Despite not being in danger of closing down thanks to its cash cushion of $1.4 billion, the popular ride-sharing service Lyft has in recent months attempted to sell itself to Apple and a few other Silicon Valley giants like Google, Amazon and Uber, The New York Times reported yesterday. None of the mentioned companies commented on the story.
The nation's second-largest ride-hailing firm also attempted a sale to China's leading ride-sharing service, Didi Chuxing, into which Apple invested $1 billion, and to General Motors, one of its largest investors that refused to make a written offer to buy it.
Now we (probably) know why Apple poured a cool $1 billion into China's leading ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing as that company's just invested—you guessed right—$1 billion into its biggest rival, Uber China. The transaction, subject to closing conditions, will also give a 20 percent stake in the combined firm for Uber and its shareholders, said Bloomberg.
