London cabbies file £250m lawsuit against Uber More than 10,000 black cab drivers have launched a collective £250 million lawsuit against Uber, claiming the firm has breached London’s taxi rules and misled regulators to secure licences. Litigation firm RGI has filed legal action in the London High Court on behalf of the drivers. The […]
London cabbies file £250m lawsuit against Uber
More than 10,000 black cab drivers have launched a collective £250 million lawsuit against Uber, claiming the firm has breached London’s taxi rules and misled regulators to secure licences.
Litigation firm RGI has filed legal action in the London High Court on behalf of the drivers. The case is based on one first filed in 2018 that alleged Uber had allowed drivers to take bookings directly from customers in direct breach of private hire rules.
The Transport for London rules says firms like Uber must use a centralised booking system for hires, but the claimants accuse the American company of misleading regulators about its business model, which directly cost the black cab drivers business.
Uber has repeatedly denied the accusations.
US Highways agency to probe Ford’s self-drive tech BlueCruise
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into Ford’s BlueCruise driver assistance system following two fatal collisions.
The NHTSA said its investigation into BlueCruise – Ford’s driver assistance technology that allows hands-free driving on certain roads – will focus on the driver monitoring aspect of the system.
In February, a Ford Mustang Mach-E using BlueCruise hit the rear of a stationary Honda, killing the 56-year-old driver of the stopped car, according to Reuters.
The other crash involving a Ford Mach-E occurred in March in Philadelphia. Ford has said it will co-operate with the probe.
OpenAI signs up FT to train ChatGPT
ChatGPT-owner Open AI has struck a deal with the Financial Times to allow the newspaper’s content to be used to help train AI systems.
The FT is the latest publisher to agree an arrangement with OpenAI. The deal will see the publisher paid an undisclosed fee in exchange for access to its content.
John Ridding, the chief executive of the FT Group, said it was “right” that AI companies paid publishers for their material.
Binance founder Zhao jailed
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has been sentenced to four months in prison in the US after pleading guilty to violating US money laundering laws.
The founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange stepped down from Binance in November after pleading guilty to the charges, which followed an investigation into whether it had helped users bypass sanctions.
Binance was ordered to $4.3 billion for Zhao’s “wilful violations” and prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence for the executive.
“Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“Its wilful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform.”
EU opens Meta election probe
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Meta over how it handles political content and misinformation as elections take place across the globe this year.
Elections are due to take place in the bloc later this year, so officials have warned the Facebook-parent company that they will assess whether its plans to moderate content on its platforms, which also include Instagram and WhatsApp, could breach EU laws.
One concern highlighted by commissioners is potential interference campaigns from “malicious actors” such as Russia, who have been accused of using Facebook to disrupt previous election cycles.
Regulators also expressed concerns about how Meta oversees its advertising campaigns, and whether they are open to exploitation. The Commission will also investigate whether Meta is transparent enough over its moderation tools for political accounts and content.
