Uber acquires Cornershop and enters the crowded grocery delivery market

Uber the ride-haling company has moved into the highly competitive world of only grocery deliveries. It has acquired a startup called Cornershop for an undisclosed sum. The deal will help the company expand beyond its core ride-haling business..

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Cornershop

A recent article describes the delivery firm: "Cornershop, founded in 2015, is currently active in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Canada, and it’s headquartered in Santiago. In a statement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company would seek to “scale their vision, and look forward to working with them to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform.” That will mean eventually launching the service in the US, though the deal is still subject to regulatory approval."

The CEO and founder of Cornershop was optimistic about the deal:" “In 2015 we started Cornershop with primarily the Latin American market in mind and we couldn't be more excited to work with Uber to help us take that mission much further,” said Oskar Hjertonsson, Founder and CEO, Cornershop. “Uber is the perfect partner as we embark on our quest to bring our unique flavor of on-demand groceries from incredible retail partners to many more countries around the world.""

Cornershop will still operate under its current leadership but will report to a board where Uber has majority representation.

Uber will face stiff competition

Huge companies such as Amazon, Instacart and Postmates are all competing for market share in the area and are up against major grocery chain such as Kroger and Walmart. Online purchases are still only 3 percent of US grocery sales. According to a recent survey customers worry about being overcharged or experiencing late deliveries.

Uber launching second try at delivery service

The Cornershop deal will see Uber enter the delivery market for the second time. In 2014 Uber Rush was launched but it was never able to expand beyond the large cities New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. It shut down in 2018.

Uber wants to be considered as a market place

Uber wants to be an "operating system" for cities and grocery delivery seems a part of that. Recently CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an interview: “I think we’re going to look at a lot of categories going forward and some of them we will fulfill through our own internal services. But I do think that you should think about Uber as a marketplace.”

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Uber the ride-hailing company launches Uber Pet for those who want their pet to ride along with them

(Oct.  10)The ride-hailing company Uber is experimenting with a new feature that is designed to reduce cancellations from customers who want to bring their pet on a ride. The new feature Uber Pet will be offered in select cities beginning this October 16th.

Uber service now predictable

Prior to the introduction of Uber Pet bringing a dog or cat along with an Uber ride was unpredictable. Uber recommended that customers contact their drivers before trying to bring along their pets but perhaps many did not follow this advice. A common complaint of Uber drivers is that they often encounter customers with surprise pets.

Why some drivers do not want pets

Many people have allergies to cat and dog hair. A driver with allergies can hardly be expected to pick up customers with pets to which he or she is allergic. Other drivers object to having to clean up hair left by animals. This could be particularly bad if the animal is shedding.

How Uber Pet works

Before selecting their ride there will be among the list of options Uber Pet. There will be a surcharge of $3 to $5 upfront when the option is selected in the app. Driver's who do not want to carry pets can opt out in the preferences section of the driver app. If they opt in the company says they will receive a "significant portion" of the surcharge added to their regular earnings.

Service animals are exempt from the surcharge

In accordance with federal and state law service animals are allowed to ride at all times at no extra cost as is reflected in Uber's policy: " In accordance with Uber's policies, service animals are permitted to accompany riders at all times. If you're traveling with a pet that's not a service animal, drivers may choose whether or not to allow the pet in their vehicle.If you're planning to ride with a pet that's not a service animal, it's good practice to contact the driver who accepted your ride request to let them know. You can use the Uber app to send a text message or call your driver.Please help drivers keep vehicles clean for all riders by bringing a carrier or blanket to reduce the risk of damage or mess. Some drivers may keep a blanket or other covering in the trunk of their vehicle."

Uber Pet will be available to all customers starting on October 16th in the following cities: Austin, Denver, Nashville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Tampa Bay. If successful no doubt Uber Pet will be applied further afield.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Uber opens New York helicopter service to all account members

(Oct. 3)Earlier in 2019, Uber the ride-hailing company began to offer helicopter trips from downtown Manhattan to the J.F. Kennedy International Airport but only to select passengers.

The trips beginning at a cost of $200 per person are now being offered to anyone with an Uber account.

Service includes Uber rides to helipads and then to the airport

Trips are only from the helipad located in lower Manhattan. You will need to take an Uber trip to the pad and then an eight minute helicopter ride to the airport itself. The trip is available Monday through Friday but during the afternoon rush hour only. Depending on demand prices can rise as high as $225 per person.

Uber gathering data for expansion of its air taxi business

Uber hopes the data from its New York project will aid it to develop a full air taxi business by 2023 using lightweight electric aircraft. However, these aircraft are yet to be produced for commercial service so that Uber is using the helicopters for now.

Uber Copter is operated by a company called HeliFlite, a company that also provides flights between Manhattan and the Hamptons. The Hamptons are a popular summer destination for well-off New Yorkers: "The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, comprise a group of villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together form the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons form a popular seaside resort and one of the historical summer colonies of the northeastern United States."

Eric Allison, who heads up Uber Elevate said of the Manhattan service: “This is our first step to what will become a future Uber Air network."

Company bills the services as a time saver

Uber sees its service as a time-saver for those wanting to get to the JF Kennedy airport during rush hour: "Including the time it takes an Uber car to transport customers to the helipad in Manhattan, Uber hopes that Uber Copter will bring total transport times between NYC and JFK down to as little as half an hour. That compares with the one hour it typically takes the drive the route, which can take up to two hours or longer in the city’s bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic. The Long Island Railroad, meanwhile, typically takes between 50 and 75 minutes to make the journey."

The time saving depends upon where one is in New York obviously. A Reuters reporter noted: "Uber says the service is intended to reduce travel times, but when Reuters tried Copter on Wednesday, a trip from its Midtown office to the airport took 70 minutes, including a subway ride downtown and two Uber rides to and from the heliport. That’s about the same time it would have taken by regular taxi in moderate traffic." However, Uber pointed out that the outbound service to JFK is only available to Uber customers who are in the vicinity of the helipad. At any rate, the Reuters trial shows that only if one is near the helipad will one save much time from using the service. However, the Reuters trial was also only when traffic was moderate. When traffic was heavy the savings in time would be more. The appended video shows a person actually using the service.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Tempe Arizona police chief says that Uber unlikely at fault in fatal self-driving car crash

Sylvia Moir, the police chief of Tempe Arizona told the San Francisco Chronicle that it was unlikely that Uber was at fault in a deadly accident involving a self-driving car that killed a woman on Sunday evening in the city.

The interview with Moir can be found here. Her comments created somewhat of a stir. This appears to be the first case where a person has been killed by a self-driving car. However, in July of 2016, a driver of a Tesla vehicle on auto-pilot was killed when the vehicle ran into a truck.

The Uber car had a backup driver and was not one of the fully autonomous cars that have no safety driver which are also being tested in Arizona and California. Moir said in the interview: “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident. I won’t rule out the potential to file charges against the [backup driver] in the Uber vehicle.”

The accident described

The crash happened near Mill Avenue and Curry Road in Tempe. The Uber car was northbound when 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was struck while pushing a bicycle across the street. She was taken to the hospital where she died later from injuries sustained in the crash.

The vehicle was traveling 38 mph in an area where police said the speed limit was 35 but a Google Street View of the road last July shows the speed limit in that stretch at 45 mph.

There is no crosswalk where the accident happened and the victim came off the median out of shadows.

Moir remarked on the fact that Herzberg crossed the street where there was no crosswalk: “It is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available.”

There is also a sign warning pedestrians not to use an inviting brick-paved walking path across the median. A tweet notes that if the woman had walked a further 100 yards there was a pedestrian corridor.

Rafaela Vasquez the 44 year old backup driver gave a statement to police.

Safety driver had little time to react

The police viewed footage from two of the vehicles cameras. One camera faced toward the street, and the other inside the car faced toward the driver. Based on what the police saw Moir judged that Vasquez had little time to react: “The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them. His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision.”

Moir's conclusion

Moir summed up her observations: “It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode [autonomous or human-driven] based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”

Moir's comments bring negative reactions

Advocates for safe streets describe Moir's comments as tone deaf, inappropriate and possibly misinformed. The Tempe Polic Department has since issued a statement that says that the department does not determine fault in vehicle accidents.

Friends of the family also demanded that Uber be held accountable and even said that Uber should be shut down.

The executive order by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in March stipulates that if one of its self-driving cars negligently kills a person then the corporation that operates the vehicle is liable. The company would be criminally liable just like a person.

Previously published in Digital Journal