Lyft has been the greatest competition for ridesharing giant, Uber.
While the two companies have somewhat different business models, their goals are the same: get people from one point to another in a more convenient way and at a cheaper rate than traditional taxis.
Uber has been the apparent winner in the rideshare industry for the last few years, but Lyft is gradually gaining traction.
Certainly, Lyft and Uber are quite competitive.
Now it appears that the rivalry between the two companies has gone from bad to worse.
There have been reports of a security violation in 2014 that affected about 50,000 Uber drivers.
Katherine Tassi, Uber’s data privacy managing counsel made a statement affirming that on 13th May, 2014, a database containing the names as well as license plate info of Uber drivers operating in several states was breached.
This has been connected to Lyft.
In an early investigation performed by Uber into the breach reported that the internet address linked with this hack could be traced back to Chris Lambert, Lyft’s CTO.
According to reports by Reuters, the Department of Justice is looking into whether there is any connection between Lyft and this Uber breach.
The Department of Justice could not deny or confirm whether they are conducting any criminal investigation into the matter.
Up to now, nobody has been charged.
Chris Lambert even signed a sworn statement saying he had nothing to do with the Uber breach.
Lyft and Uber are not known for playing nice, and this is not the first time accusations are thrown between the two companies.
Some time back, Uber hired Lyft’s ex-COO, Travis VanderZanden.
Uber actively head-hunted him and Lyft claims that he took proprietary info from the company before he left.
Lyft sued VanderZanden for supposedly downloading company files, such as financial information and strategies, to a personal account, just before leaving.
Also, Uber poached Stephen Schnell, Lyft’s ex-vice president of operations.
Schnell worked with Travis VanderZanden at a car wash establishment known as Cherry before it was obtained by Lyft.
The Lyft vs. Uber rivalry does not seem to end anytime soon.
The findings of the Department of Justice investigation on Uber’s breach are likely to bring a whole new turn to this rivalry.
If Lyft is found guilty of the breach, then things will get even more tense between the two rideshare companies.
This might have a big impact on Lyft.
Let us wait and see how the Lyft vs. Uber battle goes.