Uber Technologies Inc yesterday outlined plans it said would demonstrate its commitment to Taiwan.
Taipei has been added to Uber Movement, its global initiative to study traffic data to optimize resource allocation and prevent congestion, the US ride-sharing company said.
The initiative aims to help governments and civic groups understand the impacts of large-scale events and integrate public and private transportation resources, company officials said.
It is also working with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications on a pilot program to help smaller taxi fleets that lack the resources to develop their own cab-hailing apps to adopt its uberTAXI platform as part of its “Mobility as a Service” project, they said.
Rather than competing against local taxi fleets, Uber aims to work with the industry to expand the market and create more opportunities through innovation, Uber Asia Pacific public policy director Emilie Potvin said.
The company is also working with Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) to develop a ride-sharing program for people working in the park, officials said.
“Uber is committed to Taiwan and today we are doubling our commitment,” Uber chief operating officer Barney Harford said in his address to the “Smart Cities — The Future of Transportation” forum in Taipei organized by the American Institute in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s technology supply chain would also play an integral part in Uber Elevate, it said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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