 "A black flag with white lettering lies on the ground rolled up behind a pickup truck that a man drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing and injuring a number of people, early Wednesday morning. AP")
On Wednesday, 15 people were killed and dozens injured in New Orleans after a man drove into a large crowd.
Then, in Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded – leaving one dead and seven injured.
Authorities say both incidents have one thing in common – the Turo app was used to rent both vehicles.
But what is Turo?
Let’s take a closer look:
What is it?
As per News Nation Now, Turo is a peer-to-peer rental app.
It was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco.
It launched as RelayRides in 2010 and rebranded to Turo in 2015, as per The Times of India.
It allows users to rent cars directly from owners without them ever meeting.
It is active in the United States, Canada, Australia and France, as per Newsweek.
As per News18, users enter their location after which they are allowed to choose from rental cars available nearby.
This can be anything from sports cars, minivans, exotic vehicles, vintage cars and SUVs.
As per Business Insider, a wide variety of cars including Toyotas, Porsches and Teslas are available to rent.
As per The Hill, a person needs to have a driver’s license, be above the age of 18 and give personal info to be able to use the app.
Users can pick up the cars or have it delivered to them.
Some hosts keep the key in a lock box or give the users remote access through an app.
As per The New York Times, users must create an account with the company.
They may also have to furnish additional information including their credit history, auto insurance score and criminal background.
The company also has the right to decline trips or remove users from the platform.
According to Business Insider, the company had around 360,000 cars available to rent by the end of 2023.
Around 3.7 million people used its services that year.
American Express, BMW, and Liberty Mutual, and top venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures are investors in Turo.
The rapper 2 Chainz and a slew of NBA and NFL players are also investors in the app.
The firm has around 1,000 employees.
It was valued at $1.5 billion in 2020.
The firm registered for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2021.
However, it is yet to go public.
As per Newsweek, The company describes itself as the “world’s largest car sharing marketplace.”
It says it allows people to “skip the rental car counter” and instead “choose from an extraordinary selection of vehicles shared by local hosts and rent the best car for your trip, then you can pick it up at a convenient location near you or your destination.”
“Entrepreneurs can take the wheel of their futures by becoming hosts and building car sharing businesses on Turo, leveraging an established platform to scale their businesses and meet their goals,” the app description states. “With Turo, everyone has the power to get in the driver’s seat.”
What is its connection to the attacks?
As per The Times of India, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in the New Orleans attack, rented the Ford F-150 lightning from Turo.
Business Insider quoted the owner of the Ford in New Orleans as saying he recognised his car when he saw the video and license plate.
The owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been renting five cars on Turo as an addition income stream.
However, he said he would not use the platform again after the attack.
The Cybertruck in Las Vegas that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel early Wednesday was also booked using the Turo app.
Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into its back killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said authorities know who rented the truck with the Turo app in Colorado, but are not releasing the name until investigators determine if it is the same person who died.
McMahill was quoted by the Hill as saying the use of the app by both attackers a ‘coincidence.’
However, he added that the investigation is on.
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” a Turo spokesperson told Newsweek. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals."
“We are heartbroken to learn that one of our host’s vehicles was involved in this awful incident,” Steve Webb, the company’s vice president of communications, said. “We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest’s background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation.”
President Joe Biden said federal agents are investigating whether the truck attack in New Orleans was linked to the explosion of a Telsa Cybertruck outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel.
“There’s nothing to report on that score at this time,” Biden said.
Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
With inputs from agencies