IATR 39th Annual Conference Early Bird Pricing Until Aug 15!

AV City: Autonomous Mobility

Las Vegas, Nevada | September 14–17, 2026

Vdara Hotel at ARIA | 2600 W Harmon Ave, Las Vegas, NV

Early-bird pricing extended until August 15

Hotel room block available through August 14 – availability limited

Sponsorship opportunities available until August 14

Image: Ulysses Muñoz

Empower, a ride-hailing Uber and Lyft alternative billed as a better deal for both drivers and riders, may have to close up shop in Maryland.

Public Utility Law Judge Amy Schaeffer issued a cease and desist order against the company this week, writing that Empower “presents severe and ongoing risks to public safety” by facilitating rides without submitting to regulatory oversight.

Schaeffer sided with state regulators who raised several concerns about their inability to access information about Empower’s drivers, including details of their auto insurance.

Schaeffer gave the company 15 days to request a further hearing on the matter or the order will become final.

Source: The Banner

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Image: Lloyd Mitchell

A federal judge has ruled that New York City cannot prohibit Uber Technologies and Lyft from deactivating drivers from their apps without advance notice, ruling ​that the novel law is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan ‌said in a written ruling on Tuesday that the city's law adopted earlier this year benefits a small fraction of drivers while interfering with the ride-hailing companies' right to police the safety of their ​platforms.

"Uber and Lyft are likely to succeed in showing that the law protects ​a narrow class of drivers and does not advance the broader ⁠social or economic interest which the U.S. Constitution requires to permit the severe impairment of ​their contracts," Woods wrote.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the city from enforcing the ​law, which was set to take effect July 28, pending the outcome of consolidated lawsuits filed by the companies last month.

The law, one of the first of its kind in the U.S., was passed in January after the New York City Council overwhelmingly overrode a veto by former Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat. Adams had said ​that the law would ​create an expensive ⁠and unwieldy new bureaucracy to handle wrongful deactivation claims.

Source: Reuters

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Bill to Ban Certain Chinese Cars Approved by Senate Panel

The bill, introduced by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and co-sponsored by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., would ban the import, sale and operation of vehicles manufactured by companies deemed “foreign entities of concern,” based in certain adversarial nations such as China. It would also ban the use of technologies developed by such countries, including Chinese-developed connected vehicle technologies, in the U.S.

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The World Cup Was a Transportation Stress Test. Cities Got an A-Plus.

Digital transportation infrastructure pilots became real — and helped move millions of people around host cities. Policymakers should build on that momentum.

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Free Uber Rides Are Helping Hartford Residents Get to Lifesaving Medical Care

​Hartford Public Library launched the Health on the Go program in May 2025 with grant funding from the Cigna Group Foundation to help address the transportation gap in Hartford. It offers no-cost rides and vouchers for Hartford residents who don’t have reliable transportation to medical appointments, fitness programs, mobile medical care, and transportation assistance. They work in partnership with CT Transit, Uber Health, Sudor Taino, the Flyy Movement, and local healthcare providers.

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Canada and Ontario Celebrate Another Milestone for the Yonge North Subway Extension

Today, the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario marked another major milestone in delivering affordable and reliable public transit in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Work has officially been completed on the excavation of the Yonge North Subway Extension’s tunnel launch shaft – where two tunnel boring machines will begin digging 6.3 kilometres of tunnels.

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Many Android Users Can Now Pay for Transit in Montreal Using Smartphones

Since Monday, some Android users have been able to purchase a multitude of fares using the Chrono application on their smartphones. The new functionality will be rolled out progressively to all Android users and allows them to use the Chrono app as virtual OPUS cards, so all they would need is their phones to board buses, métros and trains in the Montreal region. The functionality is expected to be available in the coming months for users of Apple devices.

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Cab Companies Hailed for Improved Indigenous Relations

Three taxi drivers have been fired and others suspended without pay since a zero-tolerance policy for mistreatment of Indigenous passengers was implemented by Winnipeg’s two largest cab companies. Unicity Taxi and Duffy’s Taxi began working with the guidance of an Indigenous-led safety committee to improve driver-passenger interactions in 2022, including the filming of a series of training videos and building in-depth policies in response to passengers’ complaints.

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The Challenges Companies Face to Launch Robotaxis in Europe

Several car companies across the world have attempted to launch robotaxis in the last few years. However, more often than not, these plans have been quickly abandoned, with companies doing quiet U-turns shortly after announcing them.

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Sustainable Urban Transitions Lab: One Year of Shared Mobility Results from Seville

The Andalucían capital houses more than 1.7 million residents in its metropolitan area while serving as a major tourist hotspot for Spaniards, Europeans and global visitors. Meanwhile, its metro system offers just one line to carry citygoers, with private cars accounting for up to 50% of all trips.

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London Black Cabs Face a Driverless Future

London black cabs face a driverless future as Wayve and Uber prepare robotaxi trials that could transform the capital’s streets. London has always had its own soundtrack. The rumble of red buses, the chime of Underground doors and the unmistakable diesel clatter of a black cab have accompanied generations of residents and visitors.

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Omio Lands $10m As Japan Drives Next Phase of Global Expansion

The Berlin-based travel booking platform plans to use the fresh investment to scale its multimodal offering across Japan and Southeast Asia and double down on its AI hub in Singapore.

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Singapore Changi Traffic Slips As Fuel Costs Hit Southeast Asia Routes

The impact of the Middle East conflict is beginning to show in second-quarter traffic at Singapore Changi Airport, with higher fuel costs weighing on airline operations.

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Kazakhstan Set to Become First in Central Asia to Launch Air Taxi Service

An AutoFlight 'Prosperity' electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is demonstrated during a flight presentation organized by Alatau Advanced Air Group (AAAG) in cooperation with China's AutoFlight at the Kazanat Hippodrome in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 24, 2026.

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Image: Wheely

High-end taxi company Wheely whisks its celebrity and business clientele around in unmarked vehicles and makes its drivers sign nondisclosure agreements. But in New York, there is a big hole in its plan for complete discretion: a city requirement that hired vehicles provide detailed data on where they drive customers.

The company entered the New York market in March but is now locked in a legal battle over a longstanding city requirement that all for-hire vehicles submit monthly records of every trip, including the time and location of every pickup and drop-off, as well as the driver identification and vehicle license number. Wheely argues that this amounts to a widespread system of state surveillance, affecting millions of riders each year.

“We believe that riders have the right to travel in their city without their movements being tracked by the government,” Wheely founder and Chief Executive Anton Chirkunov said in an interview.

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, which collects the taxi data, says the rule is necessary for drivers’ safety to ensure they aren’t traveling unreasonably long distances in a day, which can lead to fatigue and accidents.

“Our longstanding data provision rules are vital to driver and passenger safety, corporate accountability, and our ability to make informed decisions as we regulate the largest industry of its kind in the United States,” TLC spokesman Jason Kersten said.

Source: WSJ

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