New Zealand to boost electric car sales

WELLINGTON — New Zealanders who trade in their gas-guzzling car will get financial aid towards buying a cleaner alternative, in one of a raft of climate change initiatives announced by Jacinda Ardern's government Monday.

The country's first Emissions Reduction Plan, costing nearly 3 billion NZ dollars (1.88 billion US dollars), outlined spending for the next 4 years to help meet its goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050.

A "scrap and replace" pilot scheme will initially give 2,500 low-income families financial support towards an electric or hybrid vehicle if they replace their petrol- or diesel-powered car.

Transport Minister Michael Wood said the scheme's details were yet to be finalized but he envisaged it would expand rapidly to include "tens of thousands" of New Zealanders.

He said the government's ultimate goal was for less reliance on all cars by 2035 by getting people to switch to public transport or other alternatives.

The government also allocated 650 million NZ dollars to help cut fossil fuel use in the industrial sector over the next 4 years.

There will also be an investment in developing agricultural technology -- regarded as critical in an economy heavily reliant on farming exports.

Conservationists noted the timing of the investment, coming on the same day scientists announced they had recorded a mass bleaching of sea sponges in New Zealand waters for the first time ever.

An ocean heatwave damaged the sponges in the normally cold waters off Fiordland, in the country's southwest, raising concern about the impact climate change is having on marine ecosystems in the region.

Agence France-Presse

US air travel hits highest level since March 2020

WASHINGTON - Airports in the United States saw their largest number of passengers in a year on Friday, data showed, following a shuddering halt in travel brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Just over 1.35 million travelers were checked in at American airports on Friday, the most since March 15 last year, according to Transportation Safety Administration figures.

Despite the recovery, volume is still nearly half of what it would normally be this time of year.

The previous high since the onset of the coronavirus crisis was seen on January 3, with nearly 1.33 million passengers. 

Air traffic had plunged to a record low 87,534 passengers on April 14. 

The United States has been battered by the world's biggest reported outbreak of the virus, with some 534,000 deaths. 

However, the country has administered over 100 million doses of the vaccine and new cases numbers have fallen from their highs over the holiday season. 

Agence France-Presse

Heavily indebted Thai Airways gets court nod for restructuring

BANGKOK - A Thailand court on Monday approved the restructuring of Thai Airways, which is billions of dollars in debt and struggling to survive the coronavirus tourism crash.

The global aviation sector was plunged into crisis by the pandemic as countries severely restricted travel, forcing airlines to ground vast numbers of planes and seek government help as they haemorrhaged cash.

The kingdom, once a majority shareholder in Thai, reduced its stake in May and went to the insolvency court to resolve the airline's debt -- which totalled 332.2 billion baht ($10.6 billion) by the end of June, according to local media.

"The problem that caused debtor's financial situation is not from its business but from the rapid change in aviation, particularly the impact from Covid-19," Bangkok's Central Bankruptcy Court said Monday.

It approved Thai's request for a rehabilitation plan, which would see its debt and company organization restructured.

Thai said after the ruling that it would propose that plan by the end of the year.

It has long been accused of mismanagement, and Thailand's transport ministry found in August that some of its financial damage was due to corruption, including "bribes" paid for the acquisition of 10 aircraft.

The government was previously mulling a 54 billion baht bailout for the airline, which was met with a public outcry.

Thai has restructured multiple times over the last several years but it never "went deep enough to resolve many of the longstanding systemic issues", aviation expert Brendan Sobie told AFP.

Thailand's tourism-reliant economy has been battered by the pandemic, and is expected to shrink by more than seven percent this year according to government estimates. 

Agence France-Presse

American Airlines waives change fees as United braces for new flight cancellations

WASHINGTON - American Airlines Group Inc said on Sunday it was waiving change fees on all newly purchased tickets amid declining air travel demand because of the new coronavirus outbreak.

The largest US airline said it would waive change fees up to 14 days before travel for customers who purchase tickets between Sunday and March 16.

JetBlue Airways Corp said last week it would suspend change and cancellation fees for new flight bookings between Feb. 27 and March 11.

American Airlines shares have fallen 37 percent since Feb. 13.

United Airlines Chief Executive Oscar Munoz told employees the US airline would likely need to cut additional flights in the wake of sagging demand because of the coronavirus outbreak, the airline confirmed on Sunday.

In an email late on Saturday to employees, Munoz noted the carrier had cut flights to Asia and suspended service to mainland China and Hong Kong through April 30.

"We are strategically managing our Atlantic and domestic service, mindful of travel directives from the federal government, fluctuating demand and of course, the advice of public health experts. Based on current trends, it is likely that additional schedule reductions will be necessary," Munoz said. The email was reported earlier by CNBC.

On Friday, United canceled its investor day that was set for March 5, saying it is not "practical to expect that it can have a productive conversation focused on its long-term strategy next week.” It will reschedule for September.

Chicago-based United already withdrew its 2020 guidance last week because of the uncertainty over the duration and spread of the virus. It warned that near-term demand to China has almost disappeared, with demand for the rest of its trans-Pacific routes down by 75 percent. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Hyundai to make flying cars for Uber air taxis

LAS VEGAS -- Hyundai announced Monday it would mass produce flying cars for Uber's aerial ride-share network set to deploy in 2023.

The South Korean manufacturer said it would produce the four-passenger electric "vertical take-off and landing vehicles" at "automotive scale," without offering details.

The deal announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas could help Uber, which is working with other aircraft manufacturers, to achieve its goal of deploying air taxi service in a handful of cities by 2023.

Jaiwon Shin, head of Hyundai's urban air mobility division, said he expects the large-scale manufacturing to keep costs affordable for the aerial systems.

"We know how to mass produce high quality vehicles," Shin told a news conference at CES.

He said he expected the partnership to allow for the short-range air taxis to be "affordable for everyone."

Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, appeared at the CES event with Hyundai to discuss the partnership.

"By taking transportation out of the two dimensional grid on the ground and moving it into the sky, we can offer significant time savings to our riders," Allison said.

He said that because of its other app-based transport options, "only Uber can seamlessly connect riders from cars, trains and even bikes to aircraft."

Uber has announced it had selected Melbourne to join Dallas and Los Angeles in becoming the first cities to offer Uber Air flights, with the goal of beginning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023.

Hyundai is using CES to show the S-A1 model aircraft with a cruising speed up to 180 miles (290 km) per hour.

The aircraft utilizes "distributed electric propulsion," designed with multiple rotors that can keep it in the air if one of them fails.

The smaller rotors also help reduce noise, which the companies said is important to cities.

The Hyundai vehicle will be piloted initially but over time will become autonomous, the company said. 

Agence France-Presse

Air France to offset daily CO2 emissions by next year

PARIS - French carrier Air France will offset the carbon dioxide emissions of its 500-odd daily internal flights by 2020 at a cost of millions of euros, the company's CEO has announced.

In a bid to counteract its climate impact, the company will finance projects that support tree planting, forest protection and the global shift to less polluting energy, Anne Rigail told Le Parisien newspaper.

"It is an investment of several million euros, she said in an interview published late Monday, adding the company was acting "voluntarily".

Other projects would include banning single-use plastics such as cutlery from local flights as from January, and "to start separating and recycling waste" from October.

The airline industry has been under fire over its carbon emissions, which at 285 grams of CO2 emitted per kilometer travelled by each passenger, far exceed all other modes of transport, according to the European Environment Agency.

Heavy duty transportation -- freight trucking, shipping and aviation -- represent over a tenth of global greenhouse gas emissions, says the World Resources Institute, a research body.

The emissions contribute to global warming and climate change, which scientists say will unleash ever harsher droughts, superstorms, and sea-level rise.

In July, France announced it would impose new taxes on plane tickets of between 1.50 and 18 euros per flight -- a move criticized by Air France.

It is meant to raise about 180 million euros a year to be invested in greener transport infrastructure.

Rigail said she did not know if there had been a drop in passenger numbers due to a campaign of "flight shaming" (flygskam) spearheaded by 16-year-old schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, who has become a symbol of the fight against climate change.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cathay Pacific shares slump after China cracks down on staff protests

BEIJING/HONG KONG - Shares in Cathay Pacific Airways fell more than 4 percent to close to a 10-year low on Monday after the Hong Kong flag carrier became caught in crosswinds between Beijing and pro-democracy groups in the Asian financial hub.

Increasingly violent protests since June have plunged Hong Kong into its most serious crisis in decades and are one of the biggest popular challenges to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

Cathay became embroiled on Friday when China's civil aviation regulator demanded the airline suspend personnel who engaged in or supported illegal protests in Hong Kong from staffing flights into its airspace, citing safety concerns.

The airline moved fast to comply with the demand from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), suspending a pilot arrested during anti-government protests in Hong Kong and firing two airport employees citing misconduct on Saturday.

It also said it would bar "overly radical" staff from crewing flights to the mainland, and analysts said the tighter oversight, along with the impact the protests could have on traffic, could affect the airline's bottom line.

"Not only is this likely to affect direct China flights, but also flights to Europe and, to a lesser extent, to the US, given that they fly over China airspace," Jefferies analyst Andrew Lee said.

Passenger traffic in mainland China, Europe and North America accounted for over 50 percent of all Cathay's traffic in the first half of this year, according to Jefferies data.

Cathay's shares tumbled to HK$9.82 on Monday morning, their lowest since October 2018 and near levels not seen since the 2009 financial crisis.

STAFFING QUESTION

Cathay's largest shareholder is Swire Pacific Ltd, with a 45 percent stake, followed by China's flagship carrier, Air China Ltd which owns 30 percent, according to the airline's latest annual report.

The company, which in March reported its first profit in 3 years, has seen a decline in forward bookings for travel to Hong Kong due to the protests.

It was not immediately clear how the regulator's directive would affect flight staffing. Cathay CEO Rupert Hogg told staff the company would report to the CAAC by Thursday on how it would improve flight safety, according to a copy of a letter seen by Reuters.

Cathay did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation, a union representing airline employees, has criticized the regulator.

In a statement on Saturday, it said the CAAC should have "respected Hong Kong people's rights and freedoms" on the basis of the "one country, two systems" principle, which guarantees the former British colony a high degree of autonomy from Beijing.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Amazon says drone deliveries coming 'within months'

LAS VEGAS -- Amazon said Wednesday it expects to begin large-scale deliveries by drone in the coming months as it unveiled its newest design for its "Prime Air" fleet.

Jeff Wilke, head of Amazon's consumer operations, told the company's Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space conference in Las Vegas that drones would play a role in ramping up efforts to shorten delivery times for many items to just 1 day for Amazon Prime members.

"We've been hard at work building fully electric drones that can fly up to 15 miles (25 kilometers) and deliver packages under 5 pounds (2.3 kilos) to customers in less than 30 minutes," Wilke said in a blog post.

"And, with the help of our world-class fulfillment and delivery network, we expect to scale Prime Air both quickly and efficiently, delivering packages via drone to customers within months."

Amazon offered no details about where or when the drone deliveries would be operational. 

The company conducted its first test of drone deliveries in 2016 in Britain. At the time, it said US regulations made it harder to use drones for delivery in the United States.

Wilke said Wednesday that Amazon has invested to make its delivery drones safer and more efficient.

"It can do vertical takeoffs and landings -- like a helicopter," he said. "And it's efficient and aerodynamic -- like an airplane. It also easily transitions between these two modes, from vertical-mode to airplane mode, and back to vertical mode."

The new drones are also designed to be stable even in gusty wind conditions, Wilke added.

"We know customers will only feel comfortable receiving drone deliveries if they know the system is incredibly safe," he said. 

"So we're building a drone that isn't just safe, but independently safe, using the latest artificial intelligence technologies."

Amazon said earlier this year it would speed up its free delivery for its Prime subscribers, currently 2 days for most items, to a single day, with North American customers the first to benefit.

It said it would spend some $800 million in the current quarter in the effort to shorten delivery times. It is also hiring more drivers and offering employees an opportunity to launch their own delivery enterprise with a subsidy from Amazon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

UPS launches package delivery by drone

WASHINGTON--American delivery giant UPS on Tuesday launched the first authorized use of unmanned drones to transport packages to recipients.

The company said the shipment of medical samples at the WakeMed hospital campus in Raleigh, North Carolina was the first of "numerous planned daily revenue flights."

UPS has teamed up with Matternet, which makes autonomous drones and already has operations in Switzerland, for the same-day delivery service, the company said in a statement.

The company called the inaugural flight "a major milestone for unmanned aviation in the United States." 

It will provide "the ability to avoid roadway delays, increase medical delivery efficiency, lower costs and improve the patient experience with potentially life-saving benefits," the company added.

The "quadcopter" drones can carry medical payloads weight up to five pounds (2.3 kilograms) for distances up to 12.5 miles (20 kilometers).

Currently, the only option is through traditional courier service.

"Drone transport will improve speed of deliveries at a lower cost, enhance access to care and create healthier communities," WakeMed President Donald Gintzig said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and North Carolina's Department of Transportation both approved and oversee the drone service, following test flights last year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

With IPO due, Uber aims to be 'Amazon of transportation'

SANTA MONICA -- Uber, the ridesharing behemoth set to launch a stock offering soon, is aiming beyond sharing car rides to becoming the "Amazon of transportation" in a future where people share instead of owning vehicles.

Uber laid out its vision of a transformed world of personal mobility as it steered toward a keenly anticipated stock market debut that will follow an initial public offering of shares by US rideshare rival Lyft announced on Friday.

"Cars really were, for us, a kind of starting place," said transportation policy and research chief Andrew Salzberg at an Uber media event in Santa Monica, California.

"Once we've built this platform for mobility there are a whole host of business lines we can build beyond that."

The Southern California beach city was teeming with electric scooters and bicycles from Uber and rivals that may be checked out with a smartphone app.

"The idea that every time you walk outside there is this electric, fun-to-ride vehicle waiting to take you to your next destination is really incredible," said Nick Foley, head of product for Jump, the electric bike startup acquired by Uber.

"It's more than just an app to book a bike; it's an app where you can have reliable micro mobility booking or a could book a car if the weather isn't nice."

Foley believed that a shift to mobility as a smartphone-summoned-service will alter lifestyles as dramatically as did the mass market debut of the automobile.

SMARTPHONE TRANSIT HUB

Combining electric motors with light-weight scooters or bicycles, and having them on streets to be used on demand, provides an ideal method of getting around in traffic-troubled cities, according to Uber.

Electric bicycles and scooters can get people efficiently to destinations in congested downtowns, where they can switch to public transit or car ride sharing at their convenience.

Uber's effort to be an all-encompassing platform for getting around includes adding e-scooter rival Lime and city transit services to its smartphone application, along with improving features designed to get people to travel together instead of riding solo.

The California-based startup's collaboration with cities includes sharing anonymous traffic flow data with officials in charge of public transit, bicycle lanes, parking and road planning.

Uber is also integrating transit schedules into its app, and will soon add a way to pay fares as well.

"We can't really be the Amazon for transportation without the biggest mode of transportation out there, which is public transport," said Uber transit team leader David Reich.

"The vision is to be an all-in-one app for all your transportation needs."

If all goes to plan, commuters could ride an e-scooter to a transit station, take a train then grab an e-bike, ride share or e-scooter at the arriving station to complete a journey.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has made a priority of working with transit agencies, according to Reich.

'MEGA-CULTURAL SHIFT'

Jump has leaped into 16 US cities, and planned to expand internationally this year beginning in Europe, according to founder and chief executive Ryan Rzepecki.

"I think we are in year zero of a 10-year, mega-cultural shift," Rzepecki said.

E-scooters and dockless bikes arriving on streets of US cities have caused complaints, safety concerns, and the need for laws to reign in reckless riding.

"For as much cultural change we have been seeing in cities, I think the pushback has been incredibly low," Rzepecki said, however.

He was excited to get Jump into Europe, where he felt cities were more inclined to be designed with bicycling in mind.

Uber is also taking to the sky with an Elevate project to have electric aircraft carry people between "skyports," taking off and landing vertically.

Director of vehicle systems engineering Mark Moore, who spent decades at NASA, joined Uber a little more than 2 years ago.

"We are one of the very big, bold bets that is coming up with a whole new choice of transportation in cities faced with gridlock really grinding them to a halt," Moore said of Elevate.

He expected experimental flights next year, with Uber putting Elevate aircraft into service in Dallas, Los Angeles, and a soon-to-be revealed third US city by 2023, pledging to make this an affordable travel option.

"We have zero interest in doing this for the elites," Moore said.

"This is all about designing a nodal transport system that meets the needs of cities."

Uber's platform moves cargo as well as people, with a "Freight" service that connects truckers with shippers in a way similar to how drivers connect with people seeking rides.

Uber is also seeing growing success with an "Eats" service that lets drivers make money delivering meals ordered from restaurants.

Uber is the largest and most prominent of the "sharing economy" startups that are on the cusp of transforming several industries, and its IPO could be a milestone for the trend.

"When Uber goes public it will be a vote of confidence on the sharing economy but also a vote confidence on the company," said New York University professor Arun Sundararajan.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Chinese ridesharing giant admits 'responsibility' for murder

BEIJING - Chinese ridesharing giant Didi Chuxing said Saturday it bore "responsibility" for the rape and murder of a passenger by a driver who had been reported by another user just a day before the killing.

Police in the city of Wenzhou said Saturday they had arrested a 27-year-old man who worked as a driver on suspicion of raping and killing a female passenger who had used the app to hail a ride.

The killing has sparked criticism of the company -- known as the "Chinese Uber" due to its overwhelming popularity in the country -- and raised fresh concerns over the safety of its users.

In a statement released Saturday the company admitted it had failed to act after receiving a complaint about the same driver from another female passenger, who claimed he drove her to an isolated area and followed her in his vehicle after she left the car.

"Our customer service did not... investigate this report quickly enough, no matter the reason, we take on an undeniable responsibility", it said.

"We have a responsibility and we feel guilty. As a platform, we betrayed the trust of the public."

In May a 21-year-old air stewardess was killed by a Didi Chuxing driver, prompting criticism of the company's security measures and a tightening up of its rules of use.

The latest murder has prompted renewed and widespread anger online.

"How can a driver who has been reported still go on taking passengers?" asked one user of the Twitter-like Weibo social network.

"Get out of the market! I do not want to see your next apology," said another.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Airbus to offer sleeping berths down in cargo hold

PARIS, France - Soon when you fly in an Airbus jet and you fancy a bit of shut-eye, all you will need do is make your way down to the cargo hold.

European aircraft giant Airbus announced on Tuesday that it is teaming up with Zodiac Aerospace to develop and market lower deck sleeping facilities for passengers that could be operational in A330 wide-body jets from 2020.

The sleeper compartments "would fit inside the aircraft's cargo compartments," Airbus said in a joint statement with Zodiac, a subsidiary of the French aerospace company Safran.

The modules "will be easily interchangeable with regular cargo containers,"the statement said. 

"Airlines will initially be able to choose from a catalog of certified solutions by 2020 on A330," for the sleeper pods, with the possibility of fitting them into A350 XWB airliners also being studied.

Airbus and Zodiac said the sleeping berths would not only improve passenger comfort, but also enable airlines to add value for their commercial operations.

"This approach to commercial air travel is a step change towards passenger comfort," said Geoff Pinner, head of Airbus' cabin and cargo program.

"We have already received very positive feedback from several airlines on our first mock-ups." 

Christophe Bernardini, head of Zodiac's aerospace cabin division, said the project "reaffirms our expertise in lower-deck solutions. An improved passenger experience is today a key element of differentiation for airlines." 

In November 2016, the Air France-KLM had put forward the idea of sleeping berths for passengers in the economy class, either down in the hold or above the cabin in aircraft of the group's new low-cost subsidiary, Joon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Electric car-sharing service to roll into Singapore

SINGAPORE - An electric car-sharing service will be launched in Singapore in December, in what the company behind the scheme said Wednesday was a first for Southeast Asia.

BlueSG, a subsidiary of France's Bollore Group, said that 80 cars and 30 stations where vehicles can be picked up and dropped off would be operational by the end of the year.


The group plans to roll out 1,000 of its custom-built Bluecars by 2020, as well as numerous stations and charging points.

The affluent city-state -- whose generally uncongested roads are a contrast to many traffic-choked cities in the region -- has become a testbed for transport innovations. Last year it hosted a limited public trial of the world's first driverless taxis.

Marie Bollore, from Blue Solutions, said Singapore was a launchpad for the company to enter the Asian market.

"We will start in Singapore, and afterwards we will see if other regions in Asia are interested," Bollore said at the launch of BlueSG's new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

The service is being rolled out with the help of the authorities.

Land Transport Authority chief technology officer Lam Wee Shann said the initiative would "lay the foundation" for a network of electric vehicle charging stations, and support the growth of electric car use in Singapore.

Blue Solutions is the world's biggest operator of electric car-sharing services, with 5,000 other electric vehicles in eight cities -- including Paris and Lyon in France, Turin in Italy and Indianapolis in the United States.

In Singapore, users will be able to book an electric car online or via a mobile app, and charged for the time they rent the vehicle rather than the distance travelled.

There will also be an option for a daily or annual membership.

Slightly bigger than a Smart car, the two-door, four-seater Bluecars are designed with Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina.

Nissan in March started a similar service in the city of Yokohama south of Tokyo.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Uber hires Expedia boss Khosrowshahi as CEO

SAN FRANCISCO, California - Uber hired Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi as its new chief executive late Tuesday, in the hopes he can steer the ride-sharing service away from the string of controversies it has faced in the past year.

Khosrowshahi will be at Uber's headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday for an "all-hands" gathering to meet workers at the embattled company.

"We are delighted to announce that Uber's Board has voted unanimously to appoint Dara Khosrowshahi to be our new CEO," Uber executives said in an email sent to employees late Tuesday.

Khosrowshahi is credited with turning Expedia into a global travel services behemoth, winning admiration from employees along the way.

Khosrowshahi replaces Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, who was pressured to resign as chief of the leading smartphone-summoned ride service.

Kalanick was the driving force behind Uber, taking a spur-of-moment idea and turning it into the world's most valuable venture-funded tech startup.

But his brash personality and freewheeling management style, which some argue set a problematic tone at the company, made him a liability as well as an asset to the global ridesharing giant.

He stepped down as chief executive in June.

Khosrowshahi was 9 years old when he and his family immigrated to the United States on the eve of the Iranian Revolution, according to Uber.

Khosrowshahi is known as an experienced top executive, willing to speak his mind and to advocate for women getting equal pay and leadership opportunities.

"We're really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara's experience, talent and vision," Uber said in the message to employees.

ROUGH ROAD

Khosrowshahi will face challenges including conflicts with regulators and taxi operators, a cut-throat company culture, and board members feuding with investors over Kalanick.

Kalanick frequently recounts how the idea behind Uber was born, when he and a colleague were attending a technology conference in Paris in 2008 and failed to find a taxi on a cold night.

Uber now operates in hundreds of cities and more than 80 countries.

But the hard-charging style that helped Uber succeed also made Kalanick a target for critics.

He has borne responsibility for allegations of nasty workplace tactics and covert use of law enforcement-evading software.

Dents to Uber's image include a visit by executives to a South Korean escort-karaoke bar, an attempt to dig up dirt on journalists covering the company, and the mishandling of medical records from a woman raped in India after hailing an Uber ride.

The US Justice Department is investigating whether Uber broke American laws against bribing foreign officials to promote business interests, the company confirmed.

The US government earlier this year was reported to have launched an investigation into Uber for the use of secret software that enabled the company to operate in areas where it was banned or restricted.

FINANCES HUMMING

But despite the company's dented image, its financial engine still appears to be purring.

Earnings figures confirmed by AFP showed that adjusted net revenue was $1.75 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling from about $800 million in the same period in 2016.

Gross bookings at the service doubled as the number of trips climbed 150 percent from a year earlier.

The company's adjusted net loss fell nearly 14 percent to $645 million from the same quarter last year, Uber confirmed.

Meanwhile, Uber drivers have earned $50 million in tips since a gratuity option was added to the ride-sharing application in June.

Uber has also been investing in autonomous driving technology, and provoked a lawsuit from the former Google car unit now called Waymo that accused Uber of stealing trade secrets.

BOARDROOM TUMULT

Some mutual funds have reportedly marked down their stakes in Uber in a sign that months of scandal were taking a toll on the private company's value of some $68 billion.

Kalanick is asking for the dismissal of an investor lawsuit against him, calling it part of a personal attack aimed at sidelining him.

The Benchmark lawsuit filed in a Delaware court accused Kalanick of fraud, breach of contract and of plotting to manipulate the board of directors to allow him to return as CEO following his resignation in June.

But in a legal filing, Kalanick claimed that Benchmark "began secretly planning an effort to oust him" and "executed its plan at the most shameful of times" following the death of his mother in a May accident.

The first court hearing in the case is slated for Wednesday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com