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Recharge Wrap-up: Chicago and NY taxis consider their own hailing apps; Zipcar extends one-way service in Boston

Chicago and New York are considering creating hailing apps for taxis. In order to keep up with rivals like Uber and Lyft, Chicago has approved plans for an app (or perhaps multiple apps) that allow users to hail a cab from their smartphone. A New York City councilperson has also proposed a similar app that has yet to be voted on. The Chicago plan, which is part of the city's Taxi Driver Fairness Reforms package, has the backing of a taxi union, as drivers would benefit from keeping pace with the technology and convenience other hailing apps provide. Read more at The New York Times. Zipcar is extending its point-to-point service test, called ONE>WAY, to all of its members in the Boston area. This service is available between Zipcar Pod locations throughout the area (including Logan International Airport), and includes a reserved parking space at the destination. Zipcar has 200 Honda Fit vehicles available at its Pods for ONE>WAY trips. "ONE>WAY remains true to our mission of enabling simple and responsible urban living by continuing to reduce congestion in cities as members are not circling the block searching for parking," says Zipcar President Kaye Ceille. Read more in the press release below. Two early investors in Tesla are raising a new investment fund worth $300 million. Nancy Pfund and Ira Ehrenpreis are raising a fund through DBL Investing called DBL Partners III. Pfund, through DBL, has invested in various cleantech companies, as well as Elon Musk's Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity. Ehrenpreis invested in Tesla through Technology Partners, and runs the World Energy Innovation Forum. The plans for the newest DBL investments are unclear, but it's not hard to imagine more green technology and more involvement with Musk. Read more at GigaOM. Andromeda Interfaces has released a video for its Electric Vehicle Interface Controller (EVIC). The EVIC is a display module that monitors efficiency and consumption and interprets that data for the driver. It works as a configurable dashboard with all the important data especially important and specific to EV driving, whether that's range, voltage, rpm, temperatures and the like. The EVIC is meant to be affordable, and suitable for aftermarket or OEM customers, as well as commercial and industrial EVs. See the video below for more information. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Elon Musk says Apple offering $250,000 signing bonus to poach Tesla employees

The talent pool in Silicon Valley is filled with sharks. Google, Apple, Oracle, eBay, Amazon, Nvidia, Adobe, HP and Electronic Arts all draw from the finite workforce of northern California, so unsurprisingly, competition for new hires is extremely fierce. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors, offers proof of that, claiming that Silicon Valley stalwart Apple has offered his employees whopping $250,000 signing bonuses and 60-percent pay increases. But don't worry, Tesla is just as guilty of poaching Apple's employees. Bloomberg has the interesting story that focuses not so much on the inter-hiring between the two companies, but on their similarities, which includes drawing parallels between their mercurial – some may say iconoclastic – founders. It all makes for fascinating reading, giving insight into the games played between top employers in one of the country's most competitive job markets. Head over and have a look. Related Video:

Our love of SUVs is killing people in the streets

Americans are fond of supersized fast-food meals and colossal convenience-store fountain drinks, even though they're clearly bad for our health and U.S. adults keep getting fatter. We also like large vehicles, and our love affair with SUVs is killing people in the streets. According to a recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press/USA Today, the increase in SUV sales over the past several years coincides with a sharp rise in pedestrian deaths in the U.S. — up 46 percent since 2009, with nearly 6,000 people killed in 2016 alone. With SUV sales surpassing sedans in 2014 and pickups and SUVs currently accounting for 60 percent of new vehicle sales, it's no wonder Ford announced in April plans to cease U.S. sales of almost all passenger cars. And this followed Fiat Chrysler's move to virtually an all-truck, -SUV and -crossover lineup. While the Freep/USA Today investigation found that the simultaneous surge in SUV sales and pedestrian deaths comes down to vehicle size, it also points to a lack of action on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), even though it knew of the dangers SUVs pose to pedestrians. Also blamed are automakers dragging their feet on implementing active safety features. Using federal accident data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) determined that there was an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016. Freep/USA Today's analysis of the same data by counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians instead of the number of people killed showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement. As far back as 2001, researchers at Rowan University forecasted a rise in pedestrian deaths as Americans began switching to SUVs. "In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans," the researchers wrote, with light trucks comprising SUVs.