RAPE VICTIM SUES UBER OVER MISHANDLING OF MEDICAL RECORDS

A woman who was raped in India by an Uber driver in 2014 is suing the ride-hail giant over the alleged mishandling of her medical records. Last week, it was reported that Uber’s top executive in Asia had obtained copies of the woman’s records and shown them to other executives, including CEO Travis Kalanick.

In her scathing lawsuit, the unnamed woman accuses Uber of “[violating] her a second time by unlawfully obtaining and sharing her medical records from that vicious sexual assault.” She also claims that Uber’s executives have “failed, as of the date of this filing, to apologize to her for this outrageous conduct.”

The woman, identified as “Jane Doe” of Texas, is suing Uber, Kalanick, the company’s former top executive in Asia Eric Alexander, and its former senior vice president for business Emil Michael.

According to reports, Alexander obtained the victim’s records on the premise that the allegations were fabricated as sabotage by Uber’s main rival in India, Ola. Both Alexander and Michael have since resigned, while Kalanick has taken a leave of absence from the company.

The lawsuit is the latest scandal to befall Uber, which has been reeling from multiple controversies involving sexism, harassment, and corporate misdeeds since earlier this year. The company just accepted the recommendations from a massive investigation into its toxic workplace that resulted in hundreds of cases of inappropriate behavior and 20 terminations.

Uber says it provided witnesses and evidence for the prosecution during the trial of the driver, who was later sentenced to life in prison. The company also settled a previous lawsuit with the victim in 2015 for over $3 million. 

But the latest allegations about the handling of her medical records has prompted Doe to seek further redressIn a statement, a spokesperson for Uber said, “No one should have to go through a horrific experience like this, and we're truly sorry that she's had to relive it over the last few weeks.”

Sources:

https://www.scribd.com/mobile/document/351384414/Doe-v-Uber-complaint?skip_app_promo=true#

UBER WANTS TO START FLYING YOU TO YOUR DESTINATION

           

Still, even if the technology is reasonably far along, bearing in mind spatial practicalities, air space legislation, and safety regulations, it seems reasonably safe to say that seeing these vehicles in common commercial use within ten years is an ambitious goal. We're having enough trouble with drones at the moment.

Holden's solution to this would be to use rooftop spaces as takeoff and landing pads, adding that he believes that VTOL aircraft could be used commercially within the next decade in a system similar to UberPool.

In terms of research into the technology behind these aircraft, most of it's being done by the military with The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US working on something called the VTOL X-PlaneA new way to commute

The benefit of VTOL aircraft is that they don't require any kind of runway to take flight, however, they do still need a good deal of space to operate safely – something which can be quite hard to come by in busy cities.The company's head of products, Jeff Holden, spoke with Recode at the Nantucket Project conference, telling the publication that the idea behind the service would be to offer customers "as many options as possible to move around."

After announcing its very first fleet of driverless cars, Uber has reinforced its commitment to stay at the forefront of innovative inter-city transport by revealing that it's researching short-haul flights using vertical takeoff aircraft.

sources&credit:

https://www.fastcompany.com/40411555/ubers-flying-taxis-will-first-take-to-the-skies-in-dallas-fort-worth-and-dubai