Top Stories
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Road travel: How fast is fast enough on U.S. highways
TransportIf you take a look at a map of the continental United States that shows the rural interstate speed limits, one thing immediately draws your attention: Illinois and Wisconsin are a collective island representing the only states in the Midwest with a posted interstate speed limit as low as 65 mph. Normally, we in Illinois [...]
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Rental car loophole enables companies to rent and sell recalled vehicles
TransportRental companies would be barred from leasing or selling vehicles to consumers that are under a manufacturer’s recall until the defect is fixed under a bill introduced Thursday by a bipartisan group of senators. Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski joined Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York, Barbara Boxer of California and Claire McCaskill of Missouri in [...]
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Facebook in talks to buy Israeli navigation startup Waze for up to $1 billion
TransportFacebook Inc is in advanced talks to acquire Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze for $800 million to $1 billion, business daily Calcalist reported on Thursday. Due diligence is underway after a term sheet was signed, Calcalist said, adding that talks began six months ago. Waze uses satellite signals from members’ smartphones to generate maps and traffic [...]
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What a $24 billion car rental market means to the U.S. travel economy
TransportWhat are car rental companies’ roles in the travel economy? They support the domestic automotive industry, provide transportation for urban locals and travelers, support tens of thousands U.S. jobs, and foster career growth. This, according to one executive at Enterprise Holdings, the world’s largest car rental company in terms of revenue, fleet, and employees. Bryan [...]
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TripIt will soon find users better seats, but are the app’s best days behind it?
TransportTripIt is in the final stages of launching a Seat Tracker tool for users of its premium service, TripIt Pro, Skift has learned. A little more than two years after Concur acquired TripIt for $120 million, the popular itinerary management service finds itself at a crossroads, and Barry Padgett, Concur’s executive vice president of traveler [...]
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Car-sharing in South Florida spreads beyond big cities
DigitalSouth Florida’s sprawling development and limited public transportation make owning a car pretty much a necessity. But a growing number of services are popping up in South Florida giving people quick, cheap access to cars whether they’re lacking one of their own or need an extra set of wheels for a quick trip to Home [...]
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Five travel startups hack HotelTonight and taxi apps in the U.S. and abroad
TransportIf there were ever a question whether travelers from different cultures have similar concerns, one would only have to look at the global startup scene. Developers in Hanoi are working on the same problem as entrepreneurs in Chicago, and travelers in both destinations are downloading apps and testing new sites to find cheap deals on [...]
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Hertz turns to hackers to innovate mobile customer service
TransportHertz is turning to hackers for apps and ideas. More than 200 developers, many from area car manufacturers, took part in Hertz’s Mobility and Connected Car Hackathon at nestGSV in Redwood City, California, late last month. After the final code had been written, developers presented more than 50 apps in the competition. The winning app, [...]
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How Avis-Budget and Hertz are squeezing customers
TransportAnd, you wonder why travelers sometimes shudder when they hear about travel industry mergers. After a couple of years of mergers, the car-rental industry has the upper hand, and is squeezing customers for price increases. An AvisBudget official last month characterized the industry as “right-fleeted.” AvisBudget, which released its first quarter earnings yesterday, reported that [...]
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Portable GPS units enlist social media to compete with smartphone navigation
TransportMakers of portable global-positioning systems are caught in a squeeze. Once a luxury item, in-dash navigation is showing up in cheaper cars, while smartphone apps like Google Maps and Apple Maps are adding more nav-system-like features such as spoken- turn-by-turn directions. Mitac International, the maker of the Magellan line of GPS devices, is taking the [...]
