Uber And Arrival To Develop Electric Car Specifically For E-Hailing Industry

E-hailing pioneer Uber will be partnering with UK electric vehicle (EV) company Arrival to develop an affordable electric car specifically made for e-hailing drivers. The new vehicle is expected to enter production in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023).

Arrival said it would be involving Uber drivers in the design process over the coming months to ensure the vehicle meets the needs of working drivers and their passengers. The company expects to unveil the final design for the car before the end of this year.

Uber’s involvement here seems natural, given the launch of its Clean Air Plan two years ago. The company said it has raised over £135 million (~RM775.8 million) to help drivers with the cost of switching to a fully electric vehicle. It has committed to becoming a fully electric mobility platform in London by 2025 and across North America and Europe by 2030.

The e-hailing pioneer recently launched Uber Green in London, allowing passengers to select a fully electric vehicle at no extra cost, while drivers pay a lower service fee. The company wants to double the number of drivers in EVs by the end of this year as part of its efforts to make all cars on its app fully electric by 2025.

Uber Ordered To Pay US$1.1 Million After Blind Woman And Her Dog Were Refused Rides

Uber has been ordered by an independent arbitrator to pay US$1.1 million (~RM4.6 million) to an American blind woman seeking redress for the fact that Uber drivers refused to transport her and her guide dog on multiple occasions. According to the BBC, the arbitrator found that drivers illegally discriminated against the woman based on her blindness, and tossed out Uber’s argument that it wasn’t liable in this case.

Like Grab in Malaysia (and elsewhere), Uber officially maintains that its drivers aren’t employees, but third-party contractors. That changed last month in the UK at least when a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court prodded the company to reclassify its drivers as workers.

The woman, Lisa Irving, asserted that she was verbally abused by some of the drivers over her guide dog. She also claimed that ride cancellations led to her arriving late to work, which contributed to her subsequent termination. A representative of Irving reportedly said that under American law, “a guide dog should be able to go anywhere that a blind person can go.”

In the US, Uber was previously sued by the blind community over its policy on guide dogs. The company opted to settle the lawsuit in 2017, agreeing to inform its drivers that they cannot deny service to people with guide dogs.

Uber Reclassifies All UK Drivers As Workers After Supreme Court Ruling

Uber will be reclassifying all of its 70,000 UK drivers as workers, Bloomberg reported. This means Uber drivers will get minimum wage, vacation pay, and other benefits. The move follows a growing push for gig worker rights around the world – including in Malaysia, where they still lack legal rights.

Uber’s move, which is currently restricted to the UK, was prodded by an unanimous labour-friendly ruling by the country’s highest court last month. The e-hailing pioneer said it would base minimum wage payment on time after drivers accept trip requests via the app.

This still falls short of what some drivers are demanding – that minimum wage is paid from the moment they log into the app until they log off. And drivers won’t enjoy the full rights of employees, who exist in a separate legal category and are entitled to rights like severance pay.

Regardless, the UK court ruling and Uber’s response remain significant, raising questions of when gig workers in Malaysia will receive similar protections and benefits.

As The Star noted, Malaysian gig workers currently aren’t recognised as employees by law – so things like minimum wage, working hours limitations, paid annual and sick leave, and unfair dismissal does not apply to them.

In fact, Grab’s Terms of Service took pains to emphasise that drivers aren’t employees of the company, but “third party providers” that the company connects to users.

So gig workers like e-hailing drivers are presently in a sort of legal limbo in Malaysia. Because they don’t fit the standard definitions of an employee, they’re also unlikely to find relief in our labour courts if they have a complaint.

The government has been mulling new laws to fix this situation, but nothing has materialised thus far.