Transportation Weekly: Waymo unleashes laser bear, Bird spreads its wings, Lyft tightens its belt

Welcome back to Transportation Weekly; I’m your host Kirsten Korosec, senior transportation reporter at TechCrunch . This is the fifth edition of our newsletter and we love the reader feedback. Keep it coming. Never heard of TechCrunch’s Transportation Weekly? Catch up here, here and here. As I’ve written before, consider this a soft launch. Follow […]

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Cabify returns to Barcelona with a workaround for ride-hailing wait limits

Well that didn’t take long. Despite warning loudly and publicly that incoming changes to private hire vehicle rules in Catalonia would drive it out of Barcelona for good, and force it to fire thousands of drivers, Spanish ride-hailing firm Cabify has announced it’s back operating in the city from today — a month after it […]

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Ford partners with geocoding startup what3words

Ford is partnering with what3words to give drivers access to the startup’s novel addressing system. Under the partnership, drivers will be able to connect to the free what3words app — on an iOS or Android device — to their vehicle via their SYNC 3 infotainment platform. Drivers can find the three-word address on website contact […]

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Uber driven out of Barcelona again

Uber is suspending its professional taxi service in Barcelona from tomorrow almost a year after it re-entered the Catalan capital. The move follows the regional government agreeing new regulations for the vehicle for hire (VTC) sector aimed at making sure they do not compete directly with taxis. “The new restrictions approved by the Catalan Government […]

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Rules to rein in ride-hailing apps coming to Barcelona

Catalonia’s regional government in Spain has agreed new rules to regulate the vehicle for hire (VTCs) sector that will require ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Cabify to substantially change how they operate in Barcelona and other local cities as soon as this week. The changes have been agreed by decree, ahead of a planned […]

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‘Anti-Uber’ taxi strikes kick off again in Spain

Taxi drivers in major cities in Spain are on strike again to apply pressure for more stringent regulations to control app rivals such as Uber and Cabify which they view as unfair competition. In Barcelona the taxi sector called an indefinite strike on Friday, using their vehicles to block Gran Vía in the Catalan capital, […]

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Sony venture arm invests in geocoding startup what3words

Sony’s venture capital arm has invested in what3words, the startup that has divided the entire world into 57 trillion 3-by-3 meter squares and assigned a three-word address to each one. Financial details were not disclosed. The startup’s novel addressing system isn’t the whole story. The ability to integrate what3words into voice assistants is what has […]

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Base10’s debut fund is the largest-ever for a Black-led VC firm

Adeyemi Ajao, the co-founder and managing director of Base10 Partners, was surprised to hear his firm’s $137 million fund was the largest debut to date for a black-led venture capital firm.

He and his co-founder — managing director TJ Nahigian — found out from none other than their fund’s own limited partners, who told them they should seek out institutions looking to invest in diverse fund managers.

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Latin America is the next stage in the race for dominance in the ride-hailing market

Nathan Lustig Contributor Nathan Lustig is an entrepreneur and managing partner at Magma Partners, a seed-stage investment fund in Santiago, Chile. More posts by this contributor Latin America’s Groupon Mafia A new era for startup investing in Latin America As the number of competitors in the ride-hailing industry dwindles, geographic expansion is emerging as the […]

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Spanish ‘anti-Uber’ taxi strike ends after government agrees new regulation

A national six-day taxi driver strike in Spain has ended after the government agreed to pass regulation that will allow the country’s autonomous communities to cap the number of private hire vehicle permits within their cities. The VTC licenses are used by Uber and local ride-hailing rival Cabify to offer professional driver services in the country. […]

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Uber and Cabify pause services in Barcelona after taxi strike turns violent

A two-day taxi driver strike in Barcelona this week, called to protest against the number of ride-hailing vehicles on the streets and failure to enforce national regulations that are supposed to cap private hire vehicle numbers, turned violent yesterday with protestors attacking cars and local media reporting attacks on drivers too. The violence has led […]

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Desperate for jobs, Venezuelan immigrants turn to ride-hailing services across Latin America

Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo Contributor Share on Twitter Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo is a former Google and Twitter Manager and current CEO of Céntrico Digital, a Latin American based digital agency. One month ago, Yonathan Segovia, a Cabify driver originally from Venezuela, was allegedly attacked by a mob of taxi drivers on the streets of Quito in Ecuador. In […]

View More Desperate for jobs, Venezuelan immigrants turn to ride-hailing services across Latin America