As with Uber Eats and Uber Connect, couriers can now drop off or pick up the package (up to 80kg) from the customer’s door. Uber Connect only officially makes use of motorbikes with a 15kg limit option. Customers will be able to add delivery notes or instructions for their driver before pickup or delivery — it’s probably worth letting them know about a fragile package, for instance.

Uber Connect also comes with two new features that will enhance the delivery experience. In response to a strong customer need Uber has witnessed, concurrent trips are now available, meaning users can send multiple packages to different destinations at the same time. In addition, proof of delivery via PIN will be rolled out. The PIN provides users with peace of mind that their package is being delivered to the right person, allowing for ease of reference where there are multiple deliveries. 

Other companies have offered similar services for years, such as WumDrop. Still, Uber Connect’s expansion suggests the service has proven popular enough to make it part of the company’s offerings on a much broader basis, helping families and friends in thousands of towns and cities to quickly send each other items.

Uber has noted there are with over 200 000 unique users across SSA making use of this delivery option each month.

The crash saw Uber put its autonomous research on hold, but efforts resumed later in the year. This newest vehicle takes the lessons learned by that incident – along with other testing in select US cities – and rolls it into an SUV that’s said to be ready for production.

It’s based on the Volvo XC90, itself refreshed recently. Volvo and Uber inked a deal back in 2016 on driverless vehicles, with the Swedish automaker agreeing to produce a base vehicle for the firm. Although at first glance it may look like a regular XC90, in fact there are numerous differences.

Most significant is the hardware redundancy. The car has back-up systems for several of the key components, including steering, braking, and battery back-up. Should the primary brakes fail, for example, the secondary system kicks in automatically to bring the SUV to a halt.

Cameras and ultrasonic sensors have been built into the front, rear, and sides of the XC90. There’s a camera built into the Volvo badge on the front grille, for example, and further cameras underneath the side mirrors. Each gets its own water-jet washing system, so that road dirt or bugs don’t occlude the car’s systems. Together with the other sensors, it gives the car a 360-degree perspective.

That, though, isn’t enough to make it fully autonomous. For that, Uber adds its own self-driving system, which installs on the top of the SUV. It includes LIDAR, along with more cameras and other sensing technology, plus the computational processing to crunch through all that data generated.

The deal between the two firms has been an interesting one. Back when Uber’s car crashed last year, Volvo was clear that the autonomous technology involved was Uber’s own, not the automaker’s. However, Volvo will be using the base car design for its own driverless efforts, only with different software, among other changes.

“Volvo Cars plans to use a similar autonomous base vehicle concept for the introduction of its future autonomous drive cars in the early 2020s,” the company says. “These technologies, to be introduced on the next generation of Volvo models based on the SPA2 vehicle architecture, will include features designed to enable unsupervised autonomous drive in clearly designated areas such as highways and ring roads.”

If all goes to plan, Uber aims to buy tens of thousands of the cars from Volvo to build out its driverless fleet. For the moment, though, there’ll still be a “Mission Specialist” – Uber’s term for the human safety driver who sits, poised, ready to take over in the case of an emergency – behind the wheel.

The XC90s Uber riders will encounter will be outfitted with an early version of a self-driving system developed by the company’s Advanced Technologies Center. At this stage of the game, riders won’t be getting into these autonomous cars alone, so there isn’t much to worry about in that regard. The cars will still have a driver behind the wheel, ready to take over if need be, while another person will be taking notes about the ride from the passenger seat.

Beyond getting to take a ride in a self-driving car, having one of these vehicles arrive to pick you up comes with another perk, as these rides will be offered for at no cost to the rider for the time being. It obviously won’t be that way forever, but it seems Uber doesn’t want its users to have to pay for something that still needs to go through significant testing.

Uber has arrived on the self-driving scene rather quickly, and it would appear that the company doesn’t want to rely on other companies to provide these autonomous systems. Uber envisions a future where its drivers will be replaced by self-driving cars, but when you consider the service’s more than one million drivers and the fact that its self-driving technology is still in its rudimentary stages, it becomes clear that future is still a long way off.

Unlike Ford’s current autonomous research fleet, which bolts extra sensors onto existing production models like the Fusion, the fully autonomous car it plans for 2021 will be specially designed for the purpose. It’ll meet Level 4 on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ scale, which basically means that it can handle most everyday driving without the occupants getting involved. However, that’s still short of Level 5, at which point the car is able to handle every situation without the “driver” weighing in. 

Ford hasn’t said exactly what the limits of its vehicle’s technology will be, but has previously demonstrated autonomous cars handling inclement conditions like snow, as well as in complete darkness.

Still, it’s a big step for a company which had previously been considered one of the more conservative among automakers on self-driving technology.

According to TomTom, the multi-year deal will provide “maps and traffic data for the Uber driver app” and span more than 300 cities across the globe. It’s likely that riders won’t notice much of a difference, other than possibly arriving at their destination quicker, as Engaget reports that the company will continue to use a mix of different services. That includes Bing Maps, which it acquired earlier this year.

Uber is giving an exclusive opportunity to a handful of lucky music lovers and three friends each to attend a dance experience like no other, partying with these two world famous Dutch DJ’s.

Garrix, best known for the chart topping track “Animals”, which was a Top 10 hit in more than 10 countries across globe and also rated at number 4 on esteemed DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list for 2014 and this week launched his latest single Forbidden Voices together with a slick new music video. Oliver Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin’ Records and entered the DJ Mag Top 100 list at number 34. Heldens received praise from British radio DJ Pete Tong, who calls him “one of the producers of the year”.

To stand a chance to win this amazing prize, starting today, all participants must be Uber users and enter the promo code UberYachtSA which will open the Martin Garrix view.

At 4:00pm on Thursday 12 February, be ready, because this on-demand is all about fastest fingers first! Winners will be collected, by an UberBlack, within minutes of requesting a car and whisked off to the UberYACHT. The boat will then cruise to Granger Bay where the A-list DJ’s will rock your body and soul until 8.30pm. The yacht will then head back to shore for final dock at 9:00pm.

That all changed today, as the taxi outfit returns to Microsoft’s mobile OS with proper software. This means users can lock in location, call for a ride and sort payments with a properly equipped handset. Uber’s app is missing a few key features though, as in-app fare quotes, sharable trip info and fare splitting are on the way soon. While that’s a bit of a bummer, the new version is available now for those looking to take advantage. Haydays for Microsoft.

Here’s what to do:

Log into Uber’s mobile site, then open the console (for Chrome: View -> Developer -> Javascript Console from the drop-down menu), and paste some javascript code in. The browser will reload, and you’ll need to paste the code again. Another reload, and a popup will offer up your user details and your passenger rating. The hack might even the odds a little: drivers have been able to see how passengers have ranked their rides for a while. It’s like leaving feedback on eBay all over again.

With wording from engadget.

Well, this once-a-year event made it’s come-back-debut in SA this past weekend, in their efforts of now reaching more people across the globe, even in places where Uber’s services aren’t usually available. This past July 18th and 19th – for us – Uber had ice cream trucks going around 144 cities in 38 countries (last year’s event included only 33 cities), serving a variety of treats like gelato on sticks, sundaes and froyo. And in Johannesburg, the ride-sharing company even took the chance to do some charity work as part of Nelson Mandela Day on July 18. Uber gave the children from both the Alex Aids Project in Johannesburg and Uluntu Centre in Cape Town an opportunity to enjoy a special frozen yoghurt experience. Since each region and city will its own frozen goodies at different prices, it’s best to check the Uber blog to know what time you can conjure up the ice cream truck and how much it’s going to eat up from your weekly budget.

But the Cape is not the only place where the service has irked taxi operators. Last week thousands of taxi drivers in Berlin, London, Paris and Madrid protested about the inroads Uber is making into their business. “Uber operates illegally based on our legislation of transport services,” Baker claimed.

The problem is that most of the vehicles Uber uses for its service have no operating permit.

Uber uses cars that have “charter permits”, which charge a flat fee, and then the app calculates distances, which Baker insists is not allowed in South Africa. Metered taxis usually charge R11/km – Uber charges only R7. He said the “Uber Black” app, which contracts mostly luxury vehicles, had no effect on his business but the launch last week of “UberX”, which uses mostly downmarket cars, could pry away some of his customers.

Uber’s local general manager, Anthony le Roux, said UberX used registered metered taxi operators who had licences. “A lot of these guys are already working with us. It’s those guys who aren’t interested in working with us who are giving negative feedback ,” said Le Roux. He said Cape Town was working on updating its regulations to accommodate this new category of taxi service.

Motjhane Mabote, general secretary of the Gauteng Metered Taxi Council, said Uber was not a threat to his members. “Most metered taxi customers in Gauteng are not fussy about the type of vehicle used,” said Mabote.