World-conquering taxi app Uber has built a business around cars, but its latest innovation heralds a shift in focus towards self-propelled transport.
The company is investing in bicycles and scooters, seeing its future in smaller, lighter, more manoeuvrable forms of personal transport - at least within cities.
It bought the electric bike-sharing service Jump Bikes for more than $100m (£77m) in April and is an investor in one of its rivals, Lime, which offers bike-sharing in more than 75 US cities.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Now the company is looking to build its own scooters, says Bloomberg Businessweek, a surprising move for a company which doesn’t currently make anything. It is reportedly “tinkering” with a scooter in a San Francisco facility where it is also investigating self-driving cars and flying taxis.
Neither Uber nor Jump, which is running the project for its parent company, has confirmed details of the report, but Uber’s boss said he is committed to moving away from a dependence on cars.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told the Financial Times: “During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks.”
Khosrowshahi says he can turn a profit on cycle-sharing and scooters in the long term – but admits there will be pain in the near future. “Short-term financially, maybe it’s not a win for us, but strategically long-term we think that is exactly where we want to head,” he said.
Take our survey for your chance to win £100 John Lewis vouchers
-
China and Taiwan's war of words ahead of anniversary paradeUnder The Radar Neighbours both claim to have led the fighting during World War Two
-
Epstein files: Maxwell courts a pardonFeature A new prison transcript shows Ghislaine Maxwell praising Trump as 'a gentleman' while denying his involvement in the Epstein scandal
-
Pentagon readies military deployment in ChicagoFeature The Pentagon is preparing to deploy thousands of Illinois National Guard members to Chicago after Trump threatened to send troops into other major cities
-
Rail strikes: is Britain on track for a ‘summer of discontent’?Speed Read The ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ is planned for next week
-
‘See it. Say it. Sorted’: is it the end of the line for train announcements?Speed Read The transport secretary has pledged a ‘bonfire of the banalities’ on England’s railways
-
UK to bring in airport Covid tests for arrivalsSpeed Read MPs call for stricter border measures as South African variant of coronavirus spreads
-
UK records biggest jump in transport use since pandemic beganSpeed Read Monday rush hour sees spike in commuters across country as trains return to 90% of pre-coronavirus services
-
Coronavirus: what are the odds of catching Covid-19 on a plane?Speed Read Studies suggest air travel is safe despite concerns about air quality
-
Plane crashed ‘as distracted pilots discussed Covid fears’Speed Read Preliminary report says ‘human error’ to blame for crash in Pakistan that claimed 98 lives
-
Coronavirus: Virgin Atlantic tells staff to take unpaid leaveSpeed Read Move comes amid warnings that global pandemic could bankrupt aviation industry
-
UK airlines call for multibillion-pound coronavirus bailoutSpeed Read Demand comes ahead of ‘bloodiest week in British aviation history’
