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Fancy a chauffeur? Uber is courting the well-heeled with a new ride option that will see it extend its reach from a taxi alternative to offering a more exclusive, limousine-style service. Uber announced Thursday it will launch a chauffeur ride option—Uber Elite—that will offer a “luxury ride experience” targeting executives and other frequent travelers. Uber Elite will become the rideshare operator’s most expensive option, and will be offered on an invite-only basis for current Uber Black and Uber for Business clients in San Francisco and Los Angeles, followed soon by New York. Uber is banking on a market for “a more elevated experience,” though the accompanying c…

Pay transparency laws were supposed to address the pay disparities that tend to impact women and people of color in the workplace. Over the last decade, 15 states have introduced laws that require varying degrees of disclosure from employers—from including explicit salary ranges in job postings to verbally sharing those details with prospective employees during the interview process. But new research out of Cornell University indicates that those laws have not been as effective as intended—in part because many employers fail to truly comply with them. These laws often do not clearly articulate how broad a salary range should be, and simply instruct companies to …

In 2020, Waymo began offering fully driverless rides to the public in Phoenix, turning the city into the closest thing the U.S. has to a real-world laboratory for autonomous vehicles. What began as a cautious pilot has since grown into a sprawling robotaxi network that now includes freeway travel and service to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Since then, Waymo has expanded to cities including San Francisco and Austin, while rivals like Tesla and Zoox are racing to deploy their own autonomous fleets. But the technology’s spread has come with a steady stream of logistical and political questions for the cities hosting it (especially since Phoenix, with its wid…

The biggest new restaurant trend is small. Special menus with petite, less expensive portions are popping up all over, from large chains like Olive Garden and The Cheesecake Factory to trendy urban eateries and farm-to-fork dining rooms. Restaurants hope that offering smaller servings beyond the children’s menu will meet many different diners’ needs. Some people want to spend less when they go out. Others are looking for healthier options or trying to lose weight. Younger consumers tend to snack more throughout the day and eat smaller meals, said Maeve Webster, the president of culinary consulting firm Menu Matters. “These are really driven by, I think, change…

There’s a $298 midi dress on Reformation’s website with delicate lace detailing throughout and a button front that allows you to show some leg—it’s the kind of dress the brand is known for, versatile and a little seductive. On Quince, there’s what appears to be the same dress: It has the same silhouette, the same fabric, the same drape. The Quince version costs $69.90. That $228 difference is Quince’s entire business model. At a time of inflation, when consumers are looking to curb their spending, Quince’s approach has been wildly successful. Eight years after launch, Quince generates upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue, has a 1,000-strong staff, adds hundreds of …

An “unprecedented,” potentially record-breaking heat wave is expected to hit much of the American southwest, from California to Colorado, this week—and experts are concerned about how temperatures will affect the region’s already-low snowpacks. Temperatures in the Los Angeles area will be 15 to 25 degrees above seasonal norms on Thursday, March 12, and Friday, March 13, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), reaching into the 90s along the coast and potentially above 100 degrees in some areas. “Given the unprecedented length and magnitude of this extreme heat wave, heat stress will be increasing each day, especially in areas that aren’t used to the heat…

Just days after settling with the Department of Justice (DOJ), ticketing company Live Nation is again under fire after internal messages between employees revealed bragging about “taking advantage” of ticket buyers. In message exchanges from 2022, two regional directors of ticketing for Live Nation amphitheaters, Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold, boasted about the prices they were able to get away with charging customers for ancillary fees, including things like parking, lawn chair rentals, and VIP access, with Baker writing, “I gouge them on ancil prices.” In one exchange, Weinhold shared how he was able to charge $250 for VIP parking at a venue. “These people are so …

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. AI pioneer pulls in a cool billion to launch his “world model” AI company Yann LeCun, one of the pioneers of AI and Meta’s former chief AI scientist, has long argued that large language models alone will not produce AI systems that outperform humans at most tasks. LeCun says today’s transformer-based large language models are useful enough to be applied in valuable ways, but he also believes they are unlikely to achieve the general or human-level intelligence needed to perform many…

Personal networking can help grow your business, but it can also help you grow as a person and a leader. The key is in how you view it. For some, it is a necessary evil—collecting names and LinkedIn connections like a dance card. For others, it is no game—it is getting to know someone on a genuine basis, even if it will never help them. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members about the role personal networking plays in their own growth strategies. Not surprisingly, many had thoughts about it, and those thoughts are insightful. 1. PRESSURE-TEST IDEAS Personal networking is how I pressure-test ideas, spot patterns early, and learn from leaders navigating s…

Electric freight has reached a critical inflection point. The long-standing question about whether electric trucks can reliably handle long-haul duty cycles has been answered. Several heavy-duty battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have proved that zero-emission trucks can meet real work freight demands by completing single-charge journeys making corridor freight transportation a reality. Long-term forecasts for medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks and charging infrastructure also remain optimistic as original equipment manufacturers roll out new nameplates and next-generation platforms. But performance alone will not define the next chapter. Energy availability, in…

The ancient world understood that leaders who act without self-knowledge create chaos. Consider that at the entrance to the Oracle of Delphi was the following inscription: “Know thyself.” Socrates further imbued meaning into this tenet by declaring that his wisdom came from knowing that he knew nothing. Later, Stoics like Marcus Aurelius argued that self-knowledge meant acknowledging what was actually within your control. The throughline across millennia is clear: cultivating inner clarity helps us navigate external uncertainty. But here’s what the ancients also understood: self-knowledge isn’t a solitary pursuit. We come to know ourselves through relationships, and w…

When Kevin Ketels bought an electric 2026 Chevrolet Blazer last year, he wasn’t thinking about the cost of gas. He just thought EVs were better and “wanted to be part of the future.” Now that the Iran war is spiking prices at the pump, the Detroit man is happy he is no longer filling up his 11-year-old gas-powered SUV. “Electricity can go up, but it won’t go up nearly as much as gas will and it won’t go up nearly as fast, either,” said Ketels, 55, an assistant professor of global supply chain management at Wayne State University. Experts say prolonged high gas prices may drive some EV interest and sales, especially if drivers assume their electricity prices won’t be aff…

Dollar General’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 earnings report shows some successes—though you wouldn’t know that by the reaction of its stock. Shares of Dollar General Corp (NYSE: DG) fell more than 6% in premarket trading on Thursday following the report’s early-morning release. And yet the discount retailer’s financial results include figures such as a 5.9% increase year-over-year (YOY) in quarter-four, with net sales increasing to $10.9 billion. Its 2025 net sales saw a similar jump of 5.2% YOY to $42.7 billion. Same-store sales also rose 4.3% YOY in the last quarter and 3% YOY for 2025. Notably, Dollar General did predict slower growth for 2026.…

A widening war in Iran has halted oil tankers, made targets of refineries and spooked investors worried about the cascading impact of spiking energy prices. In response, the International Energy Agency agreed on Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, with the Paris-based organization pledging to make 400 million barrels of oil available from its member nations’ stockpiles. The announcement marked a shift in momentum in government response to the war upending the flow of oil, with other global leaders previously indicating reluctance to tap into stockpiles. Here is a look at the energy supplies that countries hold and when they …

Shares in Bumble Inc. (Nasdaq: BMBL), maker of the Bumble dating app, are surging this morning after the company announced its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results. The stock price bounce will be a relief to investors in dating companies, an industry that has suffered severely in recent years due to so-called swipe fatigue among users. Here’s what you need to know about Bumble’s earnings and why its stock is surging this morning. Bumble beats on Q4 revenue Today, Bumble reported its Q4 2025 results. And on the surface, those results weren’t great. As a matter of fact, just purely based on a year-over-year comparison, many of the company’s most import…

Since its founding in 2010, GoFundMe has become the go-to platform for helping others in need, with more than $50 million raised every week and more than 8,000 fundraising campaigns launched every day. But using the platform to raise money from friends, family, and generous acquaintances or strangers often doesn’t come naturally, especially when people are already dealing with a traumatic situation like a house fire, medical problem, or other emergency. “In order for help to occur, people have to do something quite difficult, which is asking for help,” says GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. “That’s something that almost no one likes doing, so it’s a hard threshold to cro…

“At the light, take a sharp left onto Washington Street.” “So the second value prop—” “Turn right onto Third Avenue, then at the next stop sign…” Charles Armstrong, the product manager on Google Maps, is trying to explain how the platform’s turn-by-turn directions are getting their biggest update since the service launched in 2009. Maps is an almost unfathomably impactful platform that reaches around 2 billion people worldwide; it dominates navigation apps by commanding as much as 70% of the global market share. But as Armstrong attempts to walk me through the rich redesign, he keeps getting interrupted by his own demo. And I have to admit…anyone who has e…

Hiroshi Fujiwara is perhaps the most dramatically lit person I’ve ever interviewed on Zoom. Joining me at his preferred time (midnight) from Tokyo, the man known as the godfather of streetwear—who launched his own label at 26, was among the first hip-hop DJs in Japan, wrote a regular column for Popeye, and now runs his own consultancy, Fragment—has met with me to discuss his latest collaborations with Nike. But when I dig in, asking about the hidden details lurking in his shoes? He admits, “I don’t really want to talk about it,” without an ounce of rudeness. “Sometimes, if you see a movie and you don’t really get the ending, you have to guess what [the creators] t…

For some time now, reporting around Apple’s folding phone has coalesced around two beliefs: the device is set to drop this fall, and it will have a significantly less visible display crease than previous folding devices. That sounds like a typically Apple feature to prioritize, and it could well explain why the company is late to the category. Folding phones are cool, but the creases in their inner screens are undeniable imperfections. Whether it’s capacity with music players, user interface with smartphones, or the overall form factor with tablets, Apple tends to avoid making products with clear compromises in their defining elements. But is it even possible to m…

The town halls didn’t work. The twelve month wellness program didn’t work. The pricey motivational speaker definitely didn’t work. Your team looks busy, but is still very, very stuck. What looks like apathy is almost never laziness. What looks like resistance is rarely defiance. What you’re actually seeing is a nervous system in threat mode because change fatigue is fear fatigue. The fact is, the human brain just isn’t wired to fully distinguish between a physical threat and an organizational one. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, half of employees in the U.S. and Canada reported significant daily stress, which is higher than all other g…

Rental housing construction is slowing down in the United States. The cost of common construction materials is a big reason why. According to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, construction material costs have skyrocketed in recent years, adding to a wide range of conditions that are slowing the production of rental housing. The report, “America’s Rental Housing 2026,” finds that there was a 42% increase in the overall material costs of multifamily residential construction over the five-year period from 2020 to 2025, covering essential building materials like gypsum board, ready-mix concrete, and lumber. It’s a huge jump …