Image: Lloyd Mitchell

A city lawmaker this week sent Apple Inc. a letter requesting it remove a controversial ride-hailing app from its online store in New York City due to allegations the service operates in the five boroughs without a city Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) license, amNewYork has learned.

In the missive, which was obtained by amNewYork, City Council Transportation Committee Chair Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan) argues that the tech giant is enabling the app — known as Empower — to continue operating in the city outside the law through its availability on the App Store. 

“We write to urge Apple to remove the ride-hailing application Empower…from the App Store for New York City,” the letter reads. “Empower is currently operating in our city in open and admitted violation of New York law, and its continued availability on the App Store enables that unlawful conduct to continue at the direct expense of passenger safety, driver protections, and public revenue.”

An Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. Although Abreu said the company responded to him that it is looking into the matter.

Empower, a product of the company Yazam Inc., is known for charging lower fares than the two major ride-hail app companies in the city: Uber and Lyft. It claims on its website that its prices are 20% lower than average fares for both apps.

Source: am New York

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Image: Via

A new study from UC Berkeley's Transportation Sustainability Research Center offers a detailed look at how microtransit interacts with fixed-route public transit, and the findings complicate the simple narrative that microtransit either helps or hurts conventional transit. The study, led by Susan Shaheen and published August 22, 2026 in Sustainability, examined three California microtransit systems –  Richmond Moves, the Silicon Valley Hopper serving Cupertino and Santa Clara, and Via West Sac, one of the longest continuously operating microtransit systems in the country. Researchers combined passenger surveys, vehicle activity data spanning June 2022 through November 2024, and seven expert interviews with operators and city officials, using Google Directions API data to estimate what each microtransit trip would have looked like on the fixed-route alternative.

The results point to a complementary role for microtransit, but one that varies sharply by market. Between 31% and 35% of Richmond Moves and SV Hopper riders reported connecting to public transit on their most recent trip, most often to BART or Caltrain, while 17% of Via West Sac riders did the same. At the same time, microtransit is drawing riders away from the bus in a meaningful share of cases: 23% of Richmond Moves riders and 17% of SV Hopper riders said they now ride the bus less, and in West Sacramento that figure reached 43%. Cost, speed, and better destination coverage were the most commonly cited reasons for the shift.

On trip performance, microtransit wait times consistently ran longer than fixed-route transit in the denser Bay Area markets – 74% of SV Hopper trips and 82% of Richmond Moves trips had longer waits than the bus alternative – but total door-to-door travel time was faster on microtransit in a majority of cases across all three systems, reaching 88% in Cupertino. Researchers attribute this to more direct routing once a passenger is on board, offsetting the wait-time disadvantage. A substantial share of trips also had no fixed-route equivalent at all – as high as 52% in West Sacramento – meaning microtransit is reaching trips conventional transit cannot currently serve. Geospatially, microtransit's advantage over fixed-route transit grew with distance from city centers in the Bay Area, while in the more auto-oriented West Sacramento market it outperformed fixed-route transit citywide.

The study's core message for transit agencies is that microtransit's value is highly context-dependent: it appears strongest, and least competitive with existing bus service, in lower-density areas with limited fixed-route coverage, while in denser suburban environments with robust bus networks it is more likely to draw ridership away from routes that already run efficiently. To strengthen complementarity, the researchers recommend displaying comparative travel-time information within booking apps, surfacing faster fixed-route alternatives when relevant, and offering transfer credits for microtransit trips that connect to fixed-route service – design choices aimed at steering riders toward, rather than away from, the broader public transportation network.

Source: MDPI

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U.S. Government Lab Is Probing Chinese Lidar for Security Vulnerabilities

A Department of Energy lab is investigating whether Chinese lidar sensors might pose a security risk if they become widely used on vehicles in the United States. The review is being performed by the Idaho National Laboratory, according to two people familiar with the effort, who were granted anonymity to discuss it. The lab has said the research is being funded by a company — or a group of companies — in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries.

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FTA Issues $665 Million in Funding to Modernize Ferry Service, Infrastructure

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded $665 million in funding to modernize ferry infrastructure. From inland waterway dock expansions to brand-new passenger ferries, the department selected 23 projects in 14 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Ohio: Ridership Steadies As Columbus Fine-Tunes Micromobility Deal

Usage of rentable scooters and bikes is stabilizing in Columbus, but the city and its partners are still trying to make their presence on streets and sidewalks less disruptive.

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Canada Doubles Countertariffs on U.S. Steel, Aluminum to 50%; Billions in Aid to Help Businesses Hurt by Duties

Prime Minister Mark Carney matched dollar-for-dollar the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump over the weekend and announced support programs for Canadian businesses hurt by the escalating trade war.

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BC Transit Opens New Transit Exchange in Abbotsford

A new transit exchange has opened in the city of Abbotsford, B.C., in partnership with the province of British Columbia and BC Transit. Located in the Highstreet area of Mount Lehman Road, bus service to the exchange is expected to begin Sept. 6, 2026, with final construction and landscaping work being completed in coming months.

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Calgary Transit Rolling Out New Display Screens on Buses, Shuttles

Riders of Calgary Transit are getting new display screens providing the information they need. The screens are being installed across Transit’s more-than-1,000 fixed-route buses and shuttles starting in October.

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London Rollout of Robotaxis Delayed Amid Lack of Guidance for Firms to Follow

Only weeks ago Uber and London-based Wayve were granted the first minicab licences in the capital to allow them to offer self-driving taxi rides to paying customers – but with a human safety driver in place, for now – and said they would start trips “later this summer” before a full public launch.

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Greece: Taxi Industry Calls for Action After Tourists Charged €600

Ataxi driver extorted €600 from a tourist couple for a ride from Athens International Airport to central Athens, according to information cited by Greek media. The incident has prompted criticism within Greece’s taxi industry, particularly because the same driver is reportedly alleged to have committed similar offenses in the past.

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Waymo Is Planning Its First E.U. Robotaxi Launch in Munich, Germany

The Alphabet unit said it will begin driving vehicles through Munich in the coming weeks, initially with trained specialists behind the wheel. During that phase, the company will work to chart detailed maps of Munich's roads and tune its autonomous software to the region's particular traffic patterns and conditions. Waymo said it aims to open commercial service to the public toward the end of 2027, pending regulatory approvals from local, state, and federal authorities.

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Tesla Denies Rumors It’s Abandoning ‘Full Self-Driving’ Push in China

Rumors circulated on Chinese social media on Tuesday claiming that Tesla’s Shanghai data center — set up specifically to prepare the ground for a “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” launch in China — had been vacated, its liaison teams withdrawn, and related positions eliminated. The speculation fed a broader narrative that Tesla is quietly retreating from its long-delayed effort to bring FSD to the world’s largest EV market.

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Aussie Capitals ‘Will Be Driverless Within a Decade’, Says Robotaxi Pioneer

Almost every taxi ride in an Australian capital city will be driverless within a decade, reckons the Melbourne designer who created the world’s first purpose-built robotaxi. Tim Kentley Klay founded Zoox in South Melbourne, drawing up a vehicle with no steering wheel, and gas pedals. Amazon bought the company in 2020 for $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion).

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Uber to Roll Out Nissan's New Elgrand in Japan Car-Hire Expansion

Hinomaru Limousine and the IBI Group have added the vehicles and will begin operations sequentially. When users select “Premium” in the Uber app, the new Nissan Elgrand may be dispatched as one of the eligible vehicle options. Users cannot specifically request the new Nissan Elgrand.

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Image: Euronews

Major European countries and cities are tightening regulations to reduce accidents related to personal mobility (PM) such as electric scooters. The trend is to broaden the scope of oversight to include not only wearing helmets and reflective gear but also device registration, license plates, and mandatory insurance. By contrast, Korea also requires a driver's license and helmet use, but a comprehensive management system that covers device registration and license plates and lending operator registration and insurance remains far off. Related bills to address this are still pending in the National Assembly.

According to the city of Paris on the 24th, the Paris police made it mandatory as of the 7th to wear helmets and high-visibility and reflective gear when using PM such as electric scooters or Segways on public roads. Under the measure, users must wear reflective gear such as a high-visibility vest at all times of day when using PM.

Spain and Italy are building management systems by registering PM with authorities. In Spain, all PM owners must register their devices with the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) to receive a unique number and registration certificate, and they must attach an identification label to the device. As with cars, changes in ownership or device disposal must also be reported.

Korea also has PM-related rules in place, but the focus of regulation is largely on users. Under the current Road Traffic Act, to operate an electric scooter, a driver's license equal to or higher than a moped license is required. A moped license can be obtained from age 16, so those under 16 cannot operate electric scooters. Wearing a helmet is also mandatory.

Source: Chosun Biz

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