Weekly Roundup: Uber Explores SpotHero Acquisition to Expand Beyond Ride-Hailing

Uber explores acquiring parking app SpotHero. Waymo pays gig workers up to $24 to close robotaxi doors. Las Vegas rideshare drivers extend hours on New Year’s Eve amid 5.2% tourism decline. Portland rideshare trips drop 37% since 2019 as the city struggles to recover. We break it all down for you.

Uber Explores SpotHero Acquisition to Expand Beyond Ride-Hailing

Source: TipRanks

Uber is in talks to acquire SpotHero, a parking reservation app that allows drivers to find and prepay for parking spots in advance. SpotHero operates in more than 11,000 locations across over 400 cities in the U.S. and Canada, making it the largest player in the parking reservation space.

• SpotHero, founded in 2011, has raised over $110 million from investors with a most recent valuation of approximately $290 million, though discussions remain ongoing and no purchase price has been disclosed. 

• The potential acquisition would allow Uber to offer parking services to customers who drive their own vehicles, creating a natural bridge between parking and ride-hailing services. 

• The acquisition comes as Uber faces increasing competition from autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo and Tesla, making diversified service offerings more strategically important 

Waymo Pays Gig Workers Up to $24 to Close Robotaxi Doors

Source: Inside EVs

Waymo is compensating gig workers up to $24 to manually close doors on its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis when passengers fail to properly shut them. The issue became particularly acute during a recent San Francisco power outage when frustrated riders exited vehicles early, leaving doors partially open and stranding the autonomous vehicles since they cannot move unless all doors are fully closed. 

• The door-closing problem highlights an unexpected operational challenge in the autonomous vehicle industry, with workers receiving compensation via the Honk app.

• Waymo’s current fleet exclusively uses Jaguar I-Pace EVs with traditional manual doors, but the company is testing Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossovers and developing custom robotaxis with Zeekr that feature automatic sliding minivan-style doors.

• A Waymo spokesperson described door-related issues as “not too common” and said the company is working to educate riders to prevent these incidents.

Las Vegas Rideshare Drivers Extend Hours on New Year’s Eve Amid Tourism Decline

Source: Fox 5 Las Vegas

Las Vegas rideshare drivers worked extended hours on New Year’s Eve to maximize earnings in the midst of declining tourism in the city. New Years Eve is one of the year’s busiest nights in the city, with some drivers setting goals of $500 or more for the evening. 

• Declining travel from foreign countries to Las Vegas has led some drivers reporting income declines as steep as 40%. 

• The extra effort comes as drivers cope with declining tourism in the city. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data shows visitor counts dropped 5.2% in November 2025 compared to the previous year. 

• Many drivers, including those who worked Christmas Day and Thanksgiving, view holiday shifts as essential for maintaining their income during slower months, like February and March.

Waymo Robotaxis Begin Using San Francisco Public Parking Spots Between Rides

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Waymo robotaxis are now parking in coveted one-hour public parking spots in San Francisco’s Mission District and other neighborhoods while waiting for their next rides, with residents documenting vehicles occupying the same spots for up to 20 minutes at a time. The company defends the practice by stating it helps “reduce congestion and conserve energy” compared to having vehicles drive around empty. 

• UC Berkeley Professor Daniel Chatman notes that one-hour parking spots are particularly attractive to Waymo because the time restriction discourages human drivers from competing for the same spaces.

•  The parking issue raises questions about urban infrastructure as autonomous vehicle fleets scale up, with some residents concerned about whether personal autonomous vehicles from companies like Tesla could eventually “drive around all day searching for free parking” after dropping off owners.

• San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is considering proposals to designate specific zones for autonomous vehicle parking, similar to past regulatory responses when Waymo vehicles accumulated over $65,000 in traffic violation fines in 2024.

Portland Rideshare Trips Down 37% Since 2019 as City Struggles to Recover

Source: Oregon Live

Portland tallied approximately 8 million rideshare and taxi trips in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, representing a 37% decline from 2019 levels, with ridership remaining essentially unchanged from the prior year and current fiscal year data suggesting even slower activity. 

• The decline stands in stark contrast to global trends: Uber’s worldwide ridership increased 63% in 2025 compared to 2019, making Portland among the slowest cities anywhere Uber operates to recover from the pandemic. 

• The city now has approximately 12,600 rideshare and taxi drivers, down by one-third from 2019, while average wait times have increased to nearly 7 minutes compared to less than 4 minutes in 2019.

• Portland increased its per-ride fee from 65 cents to $2 in July 2025 to address budget shortfalls in its struggling transportation bureau, with rideshare companies calling it the nation’s highest citywide fee. 

QUICK HITS

• More baby boomers are increasingly using DoorDash, making it the fastest growing brand of 2025. – Moneywise

• Was driving Uber and Lyft on New Year’s Eve 2025-2026 actually profitable? In a live fare analysis, RSG Senior Contributor Sergio Avedian breaks down every ride request that came through for him. – RSG YouTube

• Want to learn more about the robotaxi industry? Subscribe to The Driverless Digest, our new newsletter and podcast dedicated to the future of autonomous vehicles. 

Must Listen Or Watch RSG Content

Here are this week’s featured podcast episode and YouTube videos:

• RSG268: Uber’s NEXT Big Move? Taxis!

• Lyft Wants You to Hit “X” on Bad Trips Instead Of Timing Them Out

• New Year’s Eve Rideshare Earnings 2026: Was It Worth Driving Uber & Lyft?

• Lyft Driver Accomplishments For 2025

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