In some of the latest HR and workforce ecosystem technology news, human cloud firm Lyft is now pursuing a self-driving car platform, a veteran staffing exec acquired video interviewing firm HarQen, home healthcare scheduling app Zuum is set to be released, and ATS provider Lever landed $30 million in series C financing.

Human cloud firms Uber also “acquihired” social app firm Swipe Labs, Nomad Health expanded its online platform to also handle nurses, and Shyp is pulling out of several cities.

Here is more on the news:

Lyft pursues self-driving car platform

Human cloud, ride-sharing firm Lyft is now building its own self-driving car platform, The Verge reported. Lyft is creating software and hardware to allow cars to be autonomous and then working with partners in the auto industry, according to the report.

Staffing exec acquires HarQen

HarQen LLC, a provider of on-demand and live video and telephone interviewing technology, announced this month that Stuart Olsten acquired a majority interest in the company. Olsten appointed Suzanne Kinkel as president of HarQen.

“HarQen is an innovative company with a cutting-edge platform that continues to revolutionize and streamline the hiring and recruiting process for businesses,” Olsten said. “HarQen’s digital interviewing applications eliminate the frustration and delayed communication many people experience while searching for employment.”

Olsten formerly served as president of Olsten Corp., a large staffing firm that was acquired by Adecco in 2000, with Olsten Corp.’s healthcare division spinning off into a new company. He has also served as a HarQen board member for seven years and will now serve as executive chairman.

Kinkel is a former Olsten Corp. executive and CEO of The Talent Logistics Group.

HarQen is based in Milwaukee.

Home healthcare app Zuum to soon roll out publicly

Plans call for Zuum, a new scheduling and communication app for the home healthcare industry, to be released as soon as next month.

Zuum is being developed by staffing firm Foreman Therapy Services and received the annual innovation award last November at Staffing Industry Analysts’ Healthcare Staffing Summit in Washington DC.

The app allows home healthcare agencies’ field staff to enter their own information such as where they live and which areas they are available. Home health agencies can then use the app for scheduling and communication. Once a request for a field staff member comes in, eligible field staff covering the area are notified; they can then respond on whether they would take the job. The app then provides the home healthcare agency with metrics on the field staff so it can make a final decision on whom to send.

There’s also an instant messenger feature, and the app enables field staff to enter credentials and sends alerts when they are about expire.

“It’s not a replacement to home health software, it’s a supplement to it,” Nate Foreman, president of Foreman Therapy Services, said. “The area that Zuum covers, which is scheduling and communications, all the other software don’t cover this part of the problem.”

It’s also not a first-come-first-serve for field staff, the home health agency makes the final determination on whom to send. A worker isn’t automatically chosen, as is the case with apps such as Uber.

Foreman said the software is the first of its kind. The app will be available for Apple and Android devices.

Lever announces funding

Applicant tracking system Lever announced $30 million in a series C funding round, according to a blog post by Lever Chief Product Officer Randal Truong. The funding will go to research and development.

Adams Street Partners is lead investor and Mike Zappert, a partner with Adams Street, will join Lever’s board.

“This announcement caps 18 months of strong, sustained momentum in our business, including the successful launches of Lever Nurture and Lever Talent Intelligence, the second and third products in our Talent Acquisition Suite; the growth of our client base to over 1,300 customers globally; and our continued focus on building an organization with diversity and inclusion at its core, resulting in 50:50 gender balance on our team and a 40% non-white workforce,” Truong wrote.

San Francisco-based Lever was founded in 2012, and its customers include human cloud, ride-sharing firm Lyft.

Uber acquires Swipe Labs

Human cloud, ride-sharing giant Uber has acquired Swipe Labs, a firm that develops social apps, according to a post on Medium by Swipe Labs CEO Marwan Roushdy. Swipe Labs’ apps including Swipe, Channel and Chitchat.

“At Uber, we will be focused on improving the driver experience within the driver earnings team,” Roushdy wrote. “This is a very exciting time at Uber, and we can’t wait to use what we learned over the years and apply it at a very large scale to over a million people that drive for Uber every day.”

TechCrunch described the acquisition as an “acqui-hire” of Roushdy and several engineers from Swipe Labs.

Nomad Health expands to nurses

Nomad Health, an online platform that matches physicians with locum tenens and telehealth jobs, expanded its service to include matching nurses with travel nurse positions.

The company reported in a blog post on Tuesday that its nurse staffing marketplace, in beta since February 2017, has gone live to the public. Presently, it’s only providing travel nurse jobs in Texas.

“Back in our beta launch blog post in February 2017, we shared how from Nomad’s inception, we imagined it as a place for all healthcare practitioners — doctors, nurses, and many others — to find rewarding work easily,” Co-Founder and CEO Alexi Nazem wrote in the post. “In the context of today’s critical nursing shortage, our team is more committed than ever to reducing the burdens of administration so we can all focus on what matters most — taking care of patients.”

The firm is taking aim at traditional healthcare staffing firms.

Nomad Health charges a 15% commission on doctors and a 25% commission on nurses.

Shyp cuts back

Online shipping firm Shyp is suspending operations in several cities, according to a blog post by CEO Kevin Gibbon. The San Francisco-based company had made news two years ago when it transitioned its couriers from independent contractors to W-2 employees.

In this week’s post, Gibbon wrote the company is leaving Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. It’s also reducing headcount at its headquarters and focusing on a single market, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Earlier this week

Previously reported earlier this week was Google’s announcement of its recruiting app called Hired and Talent Tech Labs’ $1.8 million in funding.