Today's Pickup: Uber To Launch Copter Service In New York City

Good day,

Uber Technologies Inc.'s UBER autonomous air taxi ambitions made headlines during CES19, But when it comes to actually getting off the ground, the ride-hailing company has fallen back on the tried and true: a manned helicopter. In July, the New York Times reports, Uber will launch Uber Copter, an air service that will take passengers between Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport. The average ride will last about eight minutes and cost between $200 and $225 per person. "This is a trip that so many travelers make a day, and we see an opportunity to save them a huge amount of time on it," Eric Allison, the head of Uber Elevate, told the Times. The company plans to eventually roll out the service in other cities. 

Did you know?

During the first quarter of 2019, there were a total of 144 cargo thefts in the U.S. — averaging a loss of $116,717 per instance. This represents a 25 percent increase in cargo theft volume, as well as a 1 percent increase in theft value, compared to the first quarter of 2018. 

SensiGuard's quarterly cargo theft analysis (CCJ)

Quotable

"It is further evidence that the U.S.-China trade war is scrambling the deck chairs of U.S. trade. At work, in part, is how important Mexico trade is to Laredo and how important China trade is to Los Angeles."

-Ken Roberts, president of WorldCity, on the Port of Laredo surpassing Los Angeles as the nation's busiest trade hub (Forbes)

In other news

Cycling wars

What was once fierce competition among startups has evolved into a competition between publicly traded giants. (Wired)

Scooters take over

Bird is reportedly in talks to acquire Scoot, a fellow scooter company last valued at around $71 million. (TechCrunch)

Michael's sales decline pegged to lag in digital commerce

The crafts supplies retailer is late to the digital sales war, and it has taken a toll. (Fortune)

Rail security startup raises $12 million

Cylus, an Israeli startup, develops technology to protect railway and metro systems from cyber attacks. (Nocamels)

Final thoughts

Toronto-based Agnico Eagle Mines has hatched a plan to get around Trump's (proposed) Mexico tariffs – fly the gold the company produces from mines in Mexico to Canada instead of the U.S. "It's not expensive to fly a bar of gold," CEO Sean Boyd told Bloomberg. "We would just refine it somewhere else. We could easily bring it to Canada."

Hammer down everyone!

Image sourced from Pixabay