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AFT is an ad hoc group of regulated transportation service companies dedicated to informing and educating the public on threats to public safety from new so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.

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Uber, Lyft seen by judges bound to pay drivers as employees

Uber Technologies Inc.'s drivers may have to be treated as employees rather than independent contractors, a federal judge said, a day after another judge in San Francisco gave the same warning to Lyft Inc. The car service companies are fighting challenges to the business model they use throughout the U.S. that provides drivers with applications on mobile phones to pick up riders. The drivers contend in their lawsuits that they're employees entitled to minimum wage, reimbursement for expenses and other benefits.

Internal Uber e-mails reflect company's brash reputation

Uber's brash reputation evidently extends to the way its managers talk about drivers. In forceful and sometimes crudely derisive language, Uber bosses discussed when to fire drivers for the on-demand ride service, according to internal company reports and e-mails. Uber was compelled to produce the documents as evidence for a class-action lawsuit by California drivers seeking to be considered Uber employees rather than independent contractors. The company sought to have them kept under seal but a federal judge ordered them made public.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle

Before Uber revolutionizes labor, it's going to have to explain these embarrassing emails

Uber marketed itself as a technological innovation, not a car company, and classified its drivers as independent contractors - selling them on the arrangement by promising flexible work hours and the freedom to be their own boss. The "Uberization of work," Manjoo argued, means that other companies will also try to "efficiently allocate human beings." Efficiency, however, is in the eye of the employer. Before this labor revolution can take place, Uber will have to prove its world-changing business model isn't screwing over drivers. 

Read more from The Verge

New York City blocks Uber expansion plan, for now

Uber's efforts to saturate the New York City taxi market has hit a stumbling block, as the city's taxi regulator denied its request to operate a Brooklyn livery company on the grounds that the San Francisco-based taxi app still isn't complying with city regulations. "Technically, they are unfit to hold an additional license based on [a] history of non-compliance with respect to other base licenses they hold, which under our rules we specifically consider," emailed commission spokesman Allan Fromberg.

Read more from Capital New York

Uber's bid for New Delhi return rejected

Uber has failed to win a licence to resume operations in New Delhi after one of its drivers allegedly raped a female passenger in the Indian capital last month, an official said Thursday. The US-based car-hailing company was banned from Delhi's streets in the aftermath of the December 5 attack, which sparked new fears about the safety of women in a city with a high record of sexual violence. Uber, which connects passengers to drivers through smartphone apps, last week said it was resuming operations after applying for a licence to operate as a radio-taxi company.

Uber rape survivor files lawsuit in US court against company

The woman allegedly raped by a driver of an Uber network taxi in Delhi in December has filed a lawsuit in a California court after failing to agree on a suitable compensation amount from the San Francisco-based startup. The lawsuit filed on January 29 in the Northern District Court of California seeks monetary damages with the amount to be determined at the trial. The victim also sought permanent injunction against Uber's practices which may prevent such occurrences in future.

Palm Beach County cracking down on new ride-sharing services

Uber's car service alternative to taxis could soon come to a screeching halt in Palm Beach County. That's because county officials, and taxi companies competing with Uber customers, say "ride-sharing" companies such as Uber are violating county rules that charge fees and set standards for passenger service. Uber maintains that its smart phone app, which links potential passengers to local drivers using their own cars, isn't the same as a taxi or limousine company and shouldn't be subject to the same vehicles-for-hire rules.

As Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar count patents, warning signs ahead

Government regulators and the taxi industry can't stop Uber - but maybe a patent can. At least that's the hope of Sidecar, a small rival of Uber whose founder obtained a patent related to mobile ride hailing way in 2002, and who claims he thought up today's version of the industry way back in the 1990s. Meanwhile, Uber itself has been busy on the intellectual property front. The company has filed more than a dozen patent applications that seek a monopoly on not just Uber's hated "surge pricing," but also on other basic aspects of the car hire business such as dispatching and calculating tolls.

Al Franken goes after Uber again, and he's pressing for better answers about customer privacy

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), chairman of the subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, issued a letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Tuesday calling for the company to provide better answers about Uber's customer privacy policies. This isn't the first time Franken has sent Uber such a letter. Franken first formally contacted Uber (as well as Lyft, in a separate letter) in November, asking a series of questions about how the car-hailing companies handle consumer privacy.

Read more from Business Insider