Latest Sharing Economy Headlines

All the headlines from our Sharing Economy Topic Page, ordered by recency.

The Hartford Acquires Sharing Economy Insurance Specialist Y-Risk

Dec 3 2018 // The Hartford has purchased Y-Risk, a managing general underwriter that specializes in serving sharing and on-demand economy risks, from Allstar Financial Group, an Atlanta-based holding company with multiple specialty...

Insurance Brokers Sharing in the Sharing Economy

Dec 3 2018 // As more and more consumers click for services and borrow rather than buy, the sharing economy is benefitting.According to Harvard Business Review, the sharing or on-demand economy is attracting more than 22.4 million...

British, Dutch Regulators Fine Uber for 2016 Cyber Attack

Nov 30 2018 // British and Dutch regulators on Tuesday [Nov. 27] fined ride-hailing service Uber for failing to protect customers’ personal information during a 2016 cyber attack involving millions of users.Names, mobile phone...

Waymo’s First Driverless Car Service Seen Right Around the Corner

Nov 13 2018 // In just a few weeks, humanity may take its first paid ride into the age of driverless cars.Waymo, the secretive subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is planning to launch the world’s first...

Airbnb Generates $1.1M in Wyoming Taxes, 56k Visitor Stays

Nov 13 2018 // Online hospitality company Airbnb says its hosts generated about $1.1 million in tax revenue during the first year of its agreement with the state of Wyoming. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that Airbnb started...

Airbnb Will No Longer Require Arbitration for Employee Bias and Harassment Claims

Nov 13 2018 // Airbnb Inc., following Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., said it would not force employees who filed sexual harassment claims to settle those cases in private arbitration. Airbnb also...

Uber and Lyft Could Reach 31M Trips in Seattle This Year

Nov 9 2018 // The two ridesharing giants provided more than 91,000 rides in the Seattle, Wash. area on an average day in the second quarter of this year.The Seattle Times reports Uber and Lyft are on pace to provide more than 31 million...

Uber Asks to Resume Self-Driving Tests in Penn., Improves Vehicle Software

Nov 5 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc has asked Pennsylvania for permission to resume self-driving car testing on public roads and has improved the autonomous vehicle software, the company said on Friday, more than seven months after it...

Winning, Sharing, Trusting, Failing, Losing: 10 Insuretech Connect Takeaways

Nov 5 2018 // Pulling together some loose threads from October’s Insuretech Connect Conference, here are 10 takeaways: Innovation Rap. “I actually feel the industry gets a bad rap in terms of innovation,” Dan Glaser,...

Uber Court Case in London Could Determine Future of UK’s Gig Economy

Oct 30 2018 // Just months after Uber Technologies Inc. persuaded a London judge to allow it to keep operating in the city, the ride-hailing company is back in court.At stake this time is an issue that could strike at the core of the...

GM Hitting Bumps on $5 Billion Road to Driverless Cars by 2019

Oct 25 2018 // It’s one of the biggest bets going in the world of cars.Since May, General Motors Co. and its Cruise self-driving car unit have landed $5 billion in investment commitments from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and...

Uber Driver Charged with Kidnapping New York Woman

Oct 18 2018 // An Uber driver in New York City kidnapped a woman who fell asleep in his vehicle, groped her in the back seat and then left her on the side of a highway in Connecticut, federal authorities said Tuesday.Harbir Parmar, 24,...

Softbank Plans Big Push into Insurance Investments

Oct 16 2018 // Softbank’s Vision Fund plans to pump more money into insurance, a sector it sees as both ripe for disruption and a potential booster for its bigger bets in cars, health and financial services, a Vision Fund executive...

Relax, Uber’s Not Interested in Entering Insurance Business

Oct 15 2018 // While it is weighing providing benefits and insurance to its independent contractor drivers, ridesharing giant Uber is not interested in getting into the insurance business itself.Rather, the global transportation firm is...

UK Self-Driving Startup Oxbotica Appoints Former Uber Executive to Board

Oct 10 2018 // Oxbotica, a U.K. startup whose self-driving vehicle software will help guide the European Space Agency’s Mars rover, has appointed former Uber executive Fraser Robinson to its board.Robinson served as the...

Autonomous Driving Hype Now at ‘Peak Absurdity,’ Claims Auto Dealer Group Leader

Oct 10 2018 // The auto industry is a long way from seeing autonomous vehicles and ride-hailing companies put an end to traffic deaths and personal car ownership, according to one of the top U.S. auto dealers.“We have reached peak...

Uber Conducting Background Checks on Colorado Drivers Under Settlement

Oct 4 2018 // Uber has implemented a number of safety measures, including annual background checks on its drivers in Colorado, as part of a proposed settlement with the state.The Denver Post reports the Colorado Public Utilities...

OptOn Offering On-Demand Insurance for Illinois Rideshare Drivers

Oct 4 2018 // OptOn has launched its mobile, on-demand, commercial insurance product for rideshare drivers in Illinois.The company said the mobile app provides short-term primary insurance coverage for rideshare drivers across all...

Marsh Develops Blockchain Solution for Clients in Sharing Economy

Oct 3 2018 // Marsh announced that it is developing the first blockchain-based verification solution for clients in the fast-growing sharing and gig economies.Working in collaboration with Evident, a data security platform that allows...

Canada’s Intact Financial Not Planning to Insure Recreational Cannabis Industry

Oct 3 2018 // Don’t expect Intact Financial Corp., Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer, to insure the recreational-cannabis industry anytime soon.“It’s not seen as the pot of gold that we should chase...