Uber

According to Uber, "in the United States, upfront prices are based on the estimated length and duration of the trip. Estimates can vary based on demand patterns and real-world factors like traffic." Uber sets the fare for all trips.[20]

In January 2020, Uber released a test feature in select California service areas to enable drivers at the Santa Barbara, Sacramento, and Palm Springs airports to set fares based on a multiple of Uber's rates for UberX and UberXL trips.[21]

Uber notifies its drivers that "it is illegal under state and federal law for anyone, including rideshare drivers, to engage in price-fixing. This includes agreeing or coordinating with other drivers on pricing. The law requires that drivers must make decisions about pricing and surge pricing on their own."[22] [23]

In California, Uber operates as a public utility under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The commission sets rates for Uber's transportation. Uber is considered a transportation network company under state law. The California Supreme Court ruled that the commission has jurisdiction over rates. CPUC began studying Uber's procedures in 2013, but has not announced any intention to regulate their rates.[24]

UberX is the basic level of service. It includes a private ride in a car with driver for up to four passengers. Depending on the location, Uber offers other levels of service at different prices including: black luxury vehicles, newer or premium level vehicles, cars with leather seats, sport utility vehicles, minivan, vans, Suzuki Altos, hatchbacks, electric cars, hybrid vehicles, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, actual taxicabs, lower-cost shared transport with other passengers going in the same general direction (suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic), child safety seats, pet shipping, guaranteed Spanish language-speaking drivers, additional assistance to senior citizens and passengers with a physical disability, and wheelchair accessible vans.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]

Persons with a service animal may use any type of Uber service, as required by law.

Through a partnership with Lime, users are able to rent Jump electric bicycles and motorized scooters.[39][40][41]

Uber offers health professionals in the United States a HIPAA-compliant service for patients traveling to-and-from their appointments. Patients without smartphones can receive pickup information via Text messaging or via the health professional's office.[42]

Operated by HeliFlite, Uber Copter offers 8-minute helicopter flights between Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport for approximately $200 per passenger.[43]

Uber's Elevate division was developing UberAir, which would provide short flights using VTOL aircraft. Demonstration flights were projected to start in 2020 in Dallas and Los Angeles, and commercial operations were projected to begin in 2023.[44] However, Uber sold their Elevate division to Joby Aviation in December 2020.[45]

Uber Freight matches freight shippers with truckers in a similar fashion to the matching of passengers with drivers.[46][47]

In partnership with local operators, Uber offers boat transportation in locations including Croatia,[48] Miami,[49][50] and Istanbul.[51]

Like other large technology companies, data on customer behavior are an asset to Uber. Economist John A. List, acting as chief economist for Uber in addition to his university career, analyzed company data to explore the effect of customer problems and company response on future customer orders. For example, Uber's algorithms might inform the rider that a trip will take 9 minutes, while it actually takes 23 minutes. The analysis found that people with a bad experience later spent up to 10% less with Uber. List then observed how different company responses to the experience affected future use. Options include a "sincere apology", an admission that the company had failed, a commitment to "ensure that this will not happen again" and a discount on their next ride. Apology was ineffective in retaining customers. A US$5 discount voucher did reduce losses. Repeated bad experiences followed by apologies further alienated customers.

Data analysis found that male drivers earn about 7% more than women; men were found to drive on average 2.5% faster, enabling them to serve more customers. Women passengers gave tips averaging 4%, while men gave 5%; but women drivers received more tips—so long as they were below 65 years of age.[52]

In March 2018, Uber paused self-driving vehicle testing after the death of Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona.[142] According to police, the woman was struck by an Uber vehicle while attempting to cross the street, while the onboard engineer was watching videos.[142] Uber settled with the victim's family.[143] Local authorities disagreed as to whether or not the car or Herzberg was at fault.[144] In December 2018, after receiving local approval in Pittsburgh[145][146] and Toronto,[147] Uber restarted testing, but only during daylight hours and at slower speeds. In March 2019, Uber was found not criminally liable by Yavapai County Attorney's Office for Herzberg's death.[148] The company changed its approach, inviting both Waymo and General Motors" Cruise self-driving vehicle unit to operate vehicles on Uber's ride-hailing network.[149] In February 2020, Uber regained its self-driving vehicle permit and announced plans to resume testing in San Francisco.[150]

In early 2019, Uber spent $20 million per month on research and development for autonomous vehicles;[151] however, a source said that expenses on the autonomous vehicle program have been as high as $200 million per quarter.[149]

After spending over $925 million to develop autonomous trucks, Uber cancelled its self-driving truck program in July 2018.[46] Uber acquired Otto for $625 million in 2016.[152][153] According to a February 2017 Waymo lawsuit, ex-Google employee Anthony Levandowski allegedly "downloaded 9.7 GB of Waymo's highly confidential files and trade secrets, including blueprints, design files and testing documentation" before resigning to found Otto, which was purchased by Uber.[154][155] A ruling in May 2017 required Uber to return documents to Waymo.[156] The trial began February 5, 2018.[157] A settlement was announced on February 8, 2018 in which Uber gave Waymo $244 million in Uber equity and agreed not to infringe on Waymo's intellectual property.[158]

• Ryan Graves (2010)
• Travis Kalanick (2010–2017)

Unless otherwise required by law, drivers are generally independent contractors and not employees. This designation affects taxation, work hours, and overtime benefits. Lawsuits have been filed by drivers alleging that they are entitled to the rights and remedies of being considered "employees" under employment law.[159] However, drivers do receive certain flexibilities that are not common among employees.[160]

In O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on August 16, 2013, Uber drivers pleaded that according to the California Labor Code they should be classified as employees and receive reimbursement of business expenses such as gas and vehicle maintenance costs. In March 2019, Uber agreed to pay $20 million to settle the case.[161]

On October 28, 2016, in the case of Aslam v Uber BV, the Central London Employment tribunal ruled that Uber drivers are "workers", not self-employed, and are entitled to the minimum wage under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, paid holiday, and other entitlements.[162] Two Uber drivers had brought the test case to the employment tribunal with the assistance of the GMB Union, on behalf of a group of drivers in London.[163] Uber appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; a hearing took place on 21 July 2020.[164]

In March 2018, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland ruled that drivers should be classified as employees.[165]

In April 2018, the Supreme Court of California ruled in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court that Dynamex, a delivery company, misclassified its delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.[166] This ultimately led to California passing Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) on September 11, 2019, with a test to determine if a tasker must be classified as an employee and receive minimum wage protections and unemployment benefits. In December 2019, Uber and Postmates sued California, claiming AB5 is unconstitutional.[167] In 2020, they spent tens of millions of dollars[168][169] campaigning in support of California's Proposition 22, which passed, granting them a special exception to Assembly Bill 5 by classifying their drivers as "independent contractors", exempting employers from providing benefits to certain drivers.[170]

In November 2019, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development determined that drivers should be classified as employees and fined Uber $650 million for overdue unemployment and disability insurance taxes.[171]

In some jurisdictions, drivers are guaranteed a minimum wage, such as in New York City, where drivers must earn $26.51/hour before expenses or $17.22/hour after expenses. Analyses have shown that absent such laws, many drivers earn less than the stated minimum wage.[172] A May 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute found the average hourly wage for drivers to be $9.21.[173] Reports of poor wages have been published in Profil,[174] Trend,[175] and The Guardian.[176] A 2017 report claimed that only 4% of all Uber drivers were still working as such one year after starting, primarily due to low pay.[177]

However, a 2019 study found that "drivers earn more than twice the surplus they would in less-flexible arrangements."[178]

Ridesharing contributes to automobile dependency, displacing other modes of transit that are more efficient and come with fewer societal costs.

Studies have shown that ridesharing has increased traffic congestion in cities where extensive public transport networks are in place.[179][180][181][182][183][184] Many people who use these services would otherwise be using public transport.[185] Taxicabs were noted to have lower rider waiting time and vehicle empty driving time, and thus contribute less to congestion and pollution in downtown areas.[186] However, another report noted that these companies serve as complements to public transit.[187]

In 2020, the Union of Concerned Scientists found that due to dead mileage, "ride-hailing trips produce 47 percent more carbon emissions than a similar trip taken in your own private car."[188]

Most rideshare rides are currently made at a loss to the company and subsidized by investors. Public transportation advocates worry that, if public systems atrophy due to the competition, they will be unavailable if rideshare companies run out of investor funds and begin offering rides at cost.[189][190]

Crimes have been committed by rideshare drivers[191] as well as by individuals posing as rideshare drivers who lure unsuspecting passengers to their vehicles by placing an emblem on their car or by claiming to be a passenger's expected driver.[192] The latter led to the murder of Samantha Josephson and the introduction of Sami’s Law. Lawsuits claim that rideshare companies did not take necessary measures to prevent sexual assault.[193][194] Rideshare companies have been fined by government agencies for violations in their background check processes.[195][196][197] The 2016 Kalamazoo shootings in February 2016, which left six people dead in Kalamazoo, Michigan, were committed by an Uber driver. Although Uber was criticized for its background check process, the driver did not have a criminal record, and the background check did not cause alarm.[198]

In November 2017, The Colorado Public Utilities Commission fined Uber $8.9 million after discovering that 57 drivers in the state had violations in their background checks, including a conviction felon that received permission to drive for Uber by using an alias. The fine amount equaled $2,500 per day that an unqualified driver worked.[199]

In September 2017, Uber's application for a new license in London was rejected by Transport for London (TfL) because of the company's approach and past conduct showed a lack of corporate responsibility related to driver background checks, obtaining medical certificates and reporting serious criminal offences.[200] In November 2019, Transport for London announced it would not renew Uber's license to operate in London on the grounds that Uber had failed to adequately address issues with checks on drivers, insurance, and safety.[201][202][203] Part of TfL's rationale for removing Uber's licence was evidence that Uber driver accounts had been used by unauthorized drivers.[204][205] In November 2019, Transport for London did not renew Uber's license to operate due in part to the ability of people to fake identities and use other drivers' accounts, circumventing the background check process.[206][207][208]

By increasing automobile dependency, ridesharing has exacerbated its dangers compared to other modes of transit. A study from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago tied ridesharing to an increase in traffic fatalities, including pedestrian deaths.[209][210]

Ridesharing has also been criticized for encouraging or requiring phone use while driving. To accept a fare, drivers must tap their phone screen, usually within 15 seconds after receiving a notification, which is illegal in some jurisdictions since it could result in distracted driving.[211]

Ridesharing vehicles in many cities routinely obstruct bicycle lanes while picking up or dropping off passengers, a practice that endangers cyclists.[212][213][214]

It is unclear if rideshare vehicles are less or more safe than taxicabs. Major cities in the United States don't have much data on taxi-related incidents. However, in London, taxi drivers were responsible for 5 times the number of incidents of sexual assault as compared to Uber drivers.[215]

Due to dynamic pricing models, prices for the same route may vary based on the supply and demand for rides at the time the ride is requested.[216] When rides are in high demand in a certain area and there are not enough drivers in such area, fares increase to get more drivers to that area.[217][218] In some cases, this resulted in extreme surcharges during emergencies such as Hurricane Sandy,[219] the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis,[220] and the 2017 London Bridge attack.[221]

In the United States, drivers do not have any control over the fares they charge; lawsuits allege that this is an illegal restraint on trade in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.[222][223]

Ridesharing has been criticized for providing inadequate accessibility measures for disabled people compared to the public transit it displaces.

In some areas, vehicle for hire companies are required by law to have a certain amount of wheelchair accessible vans (WAVs) in use. However, most drivers do not own a WAV, making it hard to comply with the laws.[224]

While companies have strict requirements to transport service animals, drivers have been criticized for refusal to transport service animals, which, in the United States, is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In one case, this resulted in a lawsuit, which was referred to arbitration.[225][226]

Uber has been the subject of several antitrust investigations. Antitrust law generally holds that price setting activities are permissible within business firms, but bars them beyond firm boundaries. Uber does not provide services to consumers directly. Instead, the company connects riders and drivers, sets service terms and collects fares. The antitrust law's firm exemption strictly applies to entities that a firm directly controls, such as employees. Uber has managed to avoid litigating any antitrust problems. It was able to compel the Meyer v. Uber Technologies, Inc. lawsuit to be moved into arbitration.[227]

In the 1951 antitrust case United States v. Richfield Oil Co., the court ruled for the government because Richfield Oil Co. exercised de facto control over "independent businessmen," in contravention of the antitrust laws, although they were not company employees. This has become the basis for delineation between the domains of labor and antitrust: if subordinate entities are "independent businessmen" and not employees, it is illegal to exercise control. The United States Supreme Court affirmed the same basic principle against coercion of non-employees by vertical supply contract in the 1964 case Simpson v. Union Oil Co. of California.

Microlabor online marketplaces like Uber, Lyft, Handy, Amazon Home Services, DoorDash, and Instacart have perfected a process where workers deal bilaterally with tasks offered by employers that assume no standard employer obligations, while the platform operates the labor market to its own benefit – what one antitrust expert called a "for-profit hiring hall."[228]

Because Uber drivers are not employees and Uber sets the terms on which they transact with customers, including prices, Uber has been alleged to be in violation of the ban on restraints of trade in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This issue has yet to be resolved at trial. Uber publicly stated that: "we believe the law is on our side and that"s why in four years no anti-trust agency has raised this as an issue and there has been no similar litigation like it in the U.S."[229]

While Uber was led by Travis Kalanick, the company had an aggressive strategy for dealing with obstacles, including regulators. In 2014, Kalanick said "You have to have what I call principled confrontation."[230] Uber's strategy was generally to commence operations in a city without regard for local laws/regulations. If faced with regulatory opposition, Uber called for public support for its service and mounted a political campaign, supported by lobbyists, to change regulations.[231][232][233][234] For example, in June 2014, Uber sent a notice to riders with the email address and phone number of a commissioner in Virginia who opposed the company and told riders to lobby the official, who received hundreds of complaints.[235][236] In November 2017, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi dropped the "win at all costs" strategy and implemented new values for the company, including "we do the right thing".[237]

Uber issued an apology on January 24, 2014 after documents were leaked claiming that Uber employees in New York City deliberately ordered rides from Gett, a competitor, only to cancel them later. The purpose of the fake orders was to waste drivers' time and delay service to legitimate customers.[238]

Following Lyft's expansion into New York City in July 2014, Uber, with the assistance of TargetCW, sent emails offering a "huge commission opportunity" to several contractors based on the "personal hustle" of the participants. Those who responded to the solicitation were offered a meeting with Uber marketing managers who attempted to create a "street team" to gather intelligence about Lyft's launch plans and recruit their drivers. Recruits were given two Uber-branded iPhones (one a backup in case the person was identified by Lyft) and a series of valid credit card numbers to create dummy Lyft accounts. Participants were required to sign non-disclosure agreements.[239][240]

In August 2014, Lyft reported that 177 Uber employees had ordered and canceled approximately 5,560 Lyft rides since October 2013, and that it had found links to Uber recruiters by cross-referencing the phone numbers involved. The report identified one Lyft passenger who canceled 300 rides from May 26 to June 10, 2014, and who was identified as an Uber recruiter by seven different Lyft drivers. Uber did not apologize, but suggested that the recruitment attempts were independent parties trying to make money.[241][242]

In January 2017, Uber agreed to pay $20 million to the US government to resolve accusations by the Federal Trade Commission of having misled drivers about potential earnings.[243][244][245]

In 2017, lawyers for drivers filed a class action lawsuit that alleged that Uber did not provide drivers with the 80% of collections they were entitled to.[246]

In May 2017, after the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in New York, Uber admitted to underpaying New York City drivers tens of millions of dollars over 2.5 years by calculating driver commissions on a net amount. Uber agreed to pay the amounts owed plus interest.[247]

In late January 2017, Uber was targeted by GrabYourWallet for collecting fares during a New York City taxi strike in protest of Executive Order 13769.[248] Uber removed surge pricing from JFK airport, where refugees had been detained upon entry. Uber was targeted because Kalanick had joined the administration's Economic Advisory Council.[249] A social media campaign known as #deleteuber formed in protest, leading approximately 200,000 users to delete the app.[250] Statements were later e-mailed to former users who had deleted their accounts, asserting that the company would assist refugees, and that Kalanick's membership was not an endorsement of the administration.[251] On February 2, 2017, Kalanick resigned from the council.[252]

Starting in 2014, Uber used its Greyball software to avoid giving rides to certain individuals. By showing "ghost cars" driven by fake drivers to the targeted individuals in the Uber mobile app, and by giving real drivers a means to cancel rides requested by those individuals, Uber was able to avoid giving rides to known law enforcement officers in areas where its service was illegal. A New York Times report on March 3, 2017, made public Uber's use of Greyball, describing it as a way to evade city code enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon, Australia, South Korea, and China.[253] At first, in response to the report, Uber stated that Greyball was designed to deny rides to users who violate Uber's terms of service, including those involved in sting operations.[253][254] According to Uber, Greyball can "hide the standard city app view for individual riders, enabling Uber to show that same rider a different version". Uber reportedly used Greyball to identify government officials by noting whether a user frequently opens the app near government offices, using users' social media profiles to identify law enforcement personnel, and noticing credit cards associated with the Uber account.[253]

On March 6, 2017, the City of Portland, Oregon announced an investigation into whether Uber had obstructed the enforcement of city regulations.[255] The investigation by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) found that: "Uber used Greyball software to intentionally evade PBOT's officers from December 5 to December 19, 2014 and deny 29 separate ride requests by PBOT enforcement officers."[256] Following the release of the audit, Portland's commissioner of police suggested that the city subpoena Uber to force the company to turn over information on how Uber used software to evade regulatory officials.[257] On March 8, 2017, Uber admitted that it had used Greyball to thwart government regulators and pledged to stop using the service for that purpose.[258][259] In May 2017, the United States Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into Uber's use of Greyball to avoid local law enforcement operations.[260]

After a police raid on Uber's Brussels office, a January 2018 report by Bloomberg News stated that "Uber routinely used Ripley to thwart police raids in foreign countries."[261] It offered a "panic button" system, initially called "unexpected visitor protocol", then "Ripley". It locked, powered off and changed passwords on staff computers when raided. Uber allegedly used this button at least 24 times, from spring 2015 until late 2016.[262][263]

On February 20, 2017, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler stated that she was subjected to sexual harassment by a manager and subsequently threatened with termination by another manager if she continued to report the incident. Kalanick was alleged to have been aware of the complaint[264][265][266][267]

Fowler likened Uber's culture to A Game of Thrones, in which Uber employees agressively vied for power and aggression and betrayal was common.[268][269][270]

Uber hired former attorney general Eric Holder to investigate the claims and Arianna Huffington, a member of Uber's board of directors, also oversaw the investigation.[271][272][273]

On February 27, 2017, Amit Singhal, Uber's Senior Vice President of Engineering, was forced to resign after he failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him that occurred while he served as Vice President of Google Search.[274][275][276][277][278]

In June 2017, Uber fired over 20 employees as a result of the investigation.[279][280] Kalanick took an indefinite leave of absence. Under pressure from investors, he resigned as CEO a week later.[281][282][283][284]

In 2019, Kalanick resigned from the board of directors of the company and sold his shares.[285]

At a private dinner in November 2014, senior vice president Emil Michael suggested that Uber hire a team of opposition researchers and journalists, with a million-dollar budget, to "dig up dirt" on the personal lives and backgrounds of media figures who reported negatively about Uber.[286] Specifically, he targeted Sarah Lacy, editor of PandoDaily, who, in an article published in October 2014, accused Uber of sexism and misogyny in its advertising.[287][288][289] Michael issued a public apology[290] and apologized to Lacy in a personal email, claiming that Uber would never actually undertake the plan.[291][292] After additional scandals involving Michael, including an escort-karaoke bar scandal in Seoul and the questioning of the medical records of a rape victim in India, he left the company in June 2017 when Kalanick, who reportedly was protecting Michael, resigned.[293]

In August 2018, Uber agreed to pay a total of $7 million to 480 workers to settle claims of gender discrimination, harassment, and hostile work environment.[294]

On November 19, 2014, then U.S. Senator Al Franken, Chairman of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, sent a letter to Kalanick regarding privacy.[295][296][297] Concerns were raised about internal misuse of the company's data, in particular, the ability of Uber staff to track the movements of its customers, known as "God View". In 2011, a venture capitalist disclosed that Uber staff members were using the function to track journalists and politicians as well as using the feature recreationally. Staff members viewed being tracked by Uber as a positive reflection on the subject's character.[298] An Uber job interviewee said that he was given unrestricted access to Uber's customer tracking function as part of the interview process.[299]

On February 27, 2015, Uber admitted that it had suffered a data breach more than nine months prior. Names and license plate information from approximately 50,000 drivers were inadvertently disclosed.[300] Uber discovered this leak in September 2014, but waited more than five months to notify the affected individuals.[301]

An announcement in November 2017 revealed that in 2016, a separate data breach had disclosed the personal information of 600,000 drivers and 57 million customers. This data included names, email addresses, phone numbers, and drivers' license information. Hackers used employees' usernames and passwords that had been compromised in previous breaches (a "credential stuffing" method) to gain access to a private GitHub repository used by Uber's developers. The hackers located credentials for the company's Amazon Web Services datastore in the repository files, and were able to obtain access to the account records of users and drivers, as well as other data contained in over 100 Amazon S3 buckets. Uber paid a $100,000 ransom to the hackers on the promise they would delete the stolen data.[302][303] Uber was subsequently criticized for concealing this data breach.[304] Khosrowshahi publicly apologized.[305][306] In September 2018, in the largest multi-state settlement of a data breach, Uber paid $148 million to the Federal Trade Commission, admitted that its claim that internal access to consumers' personal information was closely monitored on an ongoing basis was false, and stated that it had failed to live up to its promise to provide reasonable security for consumer data.[307][308][309] Also in November 2018, Uber's British divisions were fined £385,000 (reduced to £308,000) by the Information Commissioner's Office.[310]

In 2020, the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against former Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan for obstruction of justice. The criminal complaint said Sullivan arranged, with Kalanick's knowledge, to pay a ransom for the 2016 breach as a "bug bounty" to conceal its true nature, and for the hackers to falsify non-disclosure agreements to say they had not obtained any data.[311]

In November 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that Uber is one of many corporations that used an offshore company to minimize taxes.[312][313]