Let the unicorn feast begin! On Friday, ride-hail galumphed onto the markets with the opening day of trading for little bro Lyft. (Big rival Uber is reportedly on its way to its own IPO.) Lyft had a strong first day of trading, reaching a share price high of $87.24 before sliding to $78.29 at market’s close. Now the big question, which will answer itself in the weeks and months to come: How do investors feel about the prospect of the mustachioed company actually making money? How about the gig economy at large?

Still, plenty of transportation interestings were happening off Wall Street this week. We took a look at the current state of automotive software safety standards, and talked to people wondering how self-driving cars might fit into the mix. We reminded ourselves that self-driving cars aren’t going to be driverless for a while, and about the role of remote drivers in the ecosystem. We drove a Jeep Gladiator, the company’s adorably tough mini-pickup.

It’s been a week: Let’s get you caught up.

Headlines

Stories you might have missed from WIRED this week

Dress Rehearsal of the Week

Porsche promises its first all-electric sports car, the Taycan, will hit the market at the end of the year. Which means it’s time for the fun stuff: test drives! This week, the German automaker said it will have tested the Taycan on 3.7 million miles of road before its official launch, in the snows of Sweden, the heat of the UAE (up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit!), and the chill of Finland. More details on the Taycan’s testing regime here.

Stat of the Week

$911.3 million

The amount of dough Lyft lost last year, according to a filing submitted to the SEC in early March. For more stats on the ride-hail company, and to help you understand its IPO this week, check out these five charts.

Required Reading

News from elsewhere on the internet

Uber acquires Middle Eastern rival Careem for $3.1 billion, though the deal needs regulatory approval and may not be finalized until the end of the year.

Recode points out: “To bet on Uber—as is increasingly clear with this Careem purchase—is to bet not on Uber but on a global ride-hailing spoke model in which San Francisco-based Uber Technologies, Inc is merely the hub.”

Lyft rings in its IPO with a “City Works” pledge, investing $50 million or 1 percent of profits (whatever’s bigger) in city infrastructure, clean energy tech, and transportation access for disadvantaged communities. Anthony Foxx, the former secretary of transportation and Lyft’s current chief policy officer, clarified to WIRED that this doesn’t necessarily mean Lyft will write $50 million in checks—”Some of it will be in-kind,” he said—but that it will continue its current work on those three target areas in close partnership with cities.

Meanwhile, Lyft and Uber drivers went on strike in California this week, demanding higher wages after Uber cut their per-mile pay.

This headline speaks for itself: “I Rode an E-Scooter as Far From Civilization as Its Batteries Could Take Me”.

Oh Wow, oh no: A budget airline suddenly ceased operations.

In the Rearview

Essential stories from WIRED’s canon
Via 1998: “How the beer company that created the first Internet IPO is shaking up the stock market.”