Uber

Passengers use the Uber app to order a ride, where they are quoted the fare.[16] Uber uses a dynamic pricing model; prices for the same route vary according to supply and demand for rides at the time that the ride is requested.[17] At the beginning of the ride, payment is made based on the rider's pre-selected preferences, such as a credit card on file, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, cash, or, in India, Paytm, Airtel mobile wallet[18] or Unified Payments Interface.[19] After the ride is over, the rider is given the option to provide a gratuity to the driver, which is also billed to the rider's payment method.[20] In some locations, if the driver has to wait more than a few minutes after arriving to the pickup location, riders are charged a wait time fee.[21]

An Uber driver in Bogotá, Colombia with the Uber app on a dashboard-mounted smartphone

The status of drivers as independent contractors is an unresolved issue (see Criticism). Uber drivers use their own cars although drivers can rent or lease a car to drive with Uber.[22][23][24] Uber offers car rental or leasing via Getaround, Hertz, and Fair[25] and Uber and BYD Auto have a partnership to provide leasing of electric cars to Uber drivers in Chicago and New York City.[26]

Drivers must meet requirements for age, health, car age and type, have a driver's license and a smartphone or tablet, and must pass a background check.[23] In many cities, vehicles used by Uber drivers must pass annual safety inspections and/or must have an Uber emblem posted in the passenger window. Some cities also require Uber drivers to have a business license.[27] A mechanism called "Real-Time ID Check" requires some drivers to occasionally take selfies when logging on to Uber.[28][29]

Drivers use an app to receive and accept offers for transportations and further information.[30] The Uber driver app includes accommodations for hearing-impaired drivers.[31][32]

• UberX, the basic level of service, provides a private ride in a standard car with driver for up to four passengers. UberX and UberXL cars with child safety seats are available for an additional charge. Persons with a service animal may use any type of Uber service, as required by law. Rider service levels, many of which are only available in certain cities, include:[33]
• ASSIST provides additional assistance to senior citizens and passengers with a physical disability, but cannot transport a non-folding wheelchair (see UberWAV for wheelchair-accessible vehicles).
• Bike is a dockless bicycle-sharing system that allows users to rent electric bicycles via Uber subsidiary Jump Bikes in nine metropolitan areas in the United States including San Francisco and Washington, D.C.[34][35] Uber users are also able to rent Lime scooters in 46 cities via the Uber mobile app.[36]
• BLACK provides a black luxury vehicle.
• Chapchap, available in Nairobi, Kenya is a low-cost service offering transport via a Suzuki Alto, a kei car. "Chapchap" means "faster" in the Swahili language.[37]
• ESPAÑOL, is a version of UberX (see below) that provides a Spanish-speaking driver.[38]
• Comfort includes newer cars less then 5 years old with additional legroom.
• FLASH, available in Hong Kong and Singapore, is a service that combines both private cars and taxis, operated by ComfortDelGro in Singapore.[39]
• Green, available in Europe, provides an electric car or hybrid vehicle at the same price as UberX.
• Health, available for health professionals in the United States, is a HIPAA-compliant method to arrange rides for patients to-and-from their appointments. Patients without smartphones can receive pickup information via Text messaging or via the health professional's office.[40]
• Hire, available in India, provides a vehicle for hire for local travel..
• MOTO, available in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic, provides transportation by motorcycle.[41][42][43][44]
• Pet, allows users to hail a vehicle that allows animals to ride.
• POOL, available for up to two people per party, provides a ride that is possibly shared with other riders going in the same general direction. Unless the rider pays an additional fee for door-to-door service, the rider(s) are required to walk a short distance at both ends of the ride to save time for the driver and other riders. The pickup/drop-off locations are indicated via a map in the mobile app. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, Uber announced that they are temporarily suspending shared POOL rides, in order to stop the spread of the virus as much as possible.[45]
• Upper-class vehicles are marketed under the names Premier (India), Premium (New York City suburbs but not in the city itself), Exec (London, Berlin?) Lux (Miami, Houston, Los Angeles' New York City its self not suburbs)
• Select offers a car with leather seats and a few other premium features but cheaper then Black or the Upper class options.
• SUV provides a sport utility vehicle.
• Taxi allows users to summon a taxi using the Uber software application.[46] Users pay an additional booking fee and can leave a gratuity through the app.[46] The service was implemented to appease taxi drivers who protested the increased competition from Uber.[46]
• Van, available in Europe, provides a van for groups of up to 6 people.
• WAV aka ACCESS provides a wheelchair accessible vehicle.[47]
• UberAuto, available in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, provides transportation by auto rickshaw.[48][49]
• UberGO, available in India and Sri Lanka, provides for a ride in a hatchback.[50]
• UberXL provides a ride in a Minivan or large SUV that can seat up to 6 passengers.

• UberAIR / UberElevate will provide short flights using VTOL aircraft. Demonstration flights are projected to start in 2020 in Dallas and Los Angeles. Commercial operations are projected to begin in 2023.[51] Although technically feasible, the program is expected to encounter safety and regulatory obstacles.[52]
• In early October 2019, Uber announced a service called Uber Works that matches Temporary workers with potential jobs and employers. The new service is available only in Chicago.[53]

DeLorean "time machine" provided by Uber

Uber has also operated promotional limited services, such as rides of up to 15 minutes each on September 6–8, 2013 in San Francisco in the DeLorean that was featured in the Back to the Future film franchise.[54]

Uber allowed users to hire speedboats in the summer to and from certain points on the coast of Croatia.[55] Uber has also offered transport across Biscayne Bay during Miami Art Week[56][57] and across the Bosporus strait in Istanbul in the summer.[58]

After each journey, drivers are required to rate passengers on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Passengers also have the option to rate the driver. Riders and drivers who have low ratings can be deactivated.[59][60] In May 2019, Uber began actively banning riders with low ratings.[61] The company has not defined in detail what will be considered a “below average rating”, but the update is intended to remove users who are unable to improve their behavior.[62]

• Uber Eats provides meal delivery from nearby participating restaurants.[63]
• Uber and issuing bank Barclays offer a Visa Inc. credit card that offers customers a cashback reward program and other incentives.[64]
• Uber Freight matches freight shippers with truckers in a similar fashion to the matching of taxi passengers with drivers.[65][66]

Uber autonomous vehicle Volvo XC90 in San Francisco

Advanced Technologies Group (Uber ATG) is a subsidiary of the company that is developing self-driving cars. Uber ATG is minority-owned by Softbank Vision Fund, Toyota, and Denso.[139]

In early 2015, the company hired approximately 50 people from the robotics department of Carnegie Mellon University.[140]

On September 14, 2016, Uber launched its first self-driving car services to select customers in Pittsburgh, using a fleet of Ford Fusion cars. Each vehicle was equipped with 20 cameras, seven lasers, Global Positioning System, lidar, and radar equipment that enabled the car to create a three-dimensional map.[141][142]

On December 14, 2016, Uber began using self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs in its hometown of San Francisco. On December 21, 2016, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of the vehicles Uber was using for the test and forced the program to cease operations in California.[143] Two months later, Uber moved the program to Arizona, where the cars were able to pick up passengers, although, as a safety precaution, two Uber engineers were always in the front seats of each vehicle.[144] In March 2017, an Uber self-driving car was hit and flipped on its side by another vehicle that failed to yield.[145] In October 2017, Uber started using only one test driver, despite some employees' safety concerns.[146]

In November 2017, Uber announced a non-binding plan to buy up to 24,000 Volvo XC90 SUV vehicles designed to accept autonomous technology (including a different type of steering and braking mechanism and sensors) between 2019 and 2021.[147][148]

In March 2018, there was a temporary pause to Uber's self-driving vehicle testing after the death of Elaine Herzberg by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Tempe, Arizona.[149] According to police, the woman was struck by the Uber vehicle while attempting to cross the street, while the Uber engineer in the vehicle was watching videos on her phone.[149] Uber pulled its self-driving cars off all public roads[150] and reached a settlement with the victim's family.[151] There was disagreement among local authorities as to whether or not the car or the victim was at fault.[152] In December 2018, after receiving local approval, Uber restarted testing of its self driving cars, only during daylight hours and at slower speeds, in Pittsburgh[153][154] and Toronto.[155] In March 2019, Uber was found not criminally liable by Yavapai County Attorney's Office for the death of Herzberg.[156] The company changed its approach to self-driving vehicles after Herzberg's death, inviting both Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise self-driving vehicle unit to operate vehicles on Uber’s ride-hailing network.[157] In February 2020, Uber regained the permit to test self-driving vehicles on public roads of California with backup drivers. The company is going to resume testing in San Francisco, where its main office is based.[158]

Prior to its IPO, Uber projected the potential operation of 75,000 autonomous vehicles, in 13 cities, by 2022. These projections, developed through an internal effort codenamed Project Rubicon, targeted the possibility of profitable autonomous vehicles by 2018 in an initial January 2016 report, with a May 2016 report claiming that 13,000 autonomous Uber vehicles could be operating by 2019. The 75,000-vehicle figure was proposed in September 2016. To reach these goals, Uber spent a reported $20 million a month on research and development, according to TechCrunch.[159] Other sources have estimated Uber’s spending on self-driving vehicle research to have reached as high as $200 million per quarter.[157]

In April 2019, Uber scientist Raquel Urtasun offered a more cautious estimate of the company’s eventual self-driving capabilities, saying "self-driving cars are going to be in our lives. The question of when is not clear yet. To have it at scale is going to take a long time."[157]

After spending over $925 million to develop autonomous trucks, Uber cancelled its self-driving truck program in July 2018.[65] Uber acquired Otto for $625 million in 2016.[160][161] According to a February 2017 lawsuit filed by Waymo, owned by an affiliate of Google, 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.[162][163] A ruling in May 2017 required Uber to return documents to Waymo.[164] The trial began February 5, 2018.[165] 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.[166]

The taxi industry has claimed that ridesharing companies skirt regulations that apply to passenger transport and ridesharing companies are therefore illegal taxicab operations. This has resulted in additional regulations imposed on ridesharing companies and, in some jurisdictions, certain ridesharing companies are banned from operating.[167]

In New York City, use of ridesharing companies has reduced the value of taxi medallions, transferable permits or licenses authorizing the holder to pick up passengers for hire. A couple of credit unions that lent money secured by medallions suffered from bank failure.[168]

Unless otherwise required by law, rideshare drivers are generally independent contractors and not employees. This designation may affect taxation, work hours, and overtime benefits and lawsuits have been filed by drivers alleging that they are entitled to the rights and remedies of being considered "employees" under employment law.[169] In response, ridesharing companies say they provide "flexible and independent jobs" for drivers.[170]

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.[171]

On October 28, 2016, in the case of Aslam v Uber BV, the Central London Employment tribunal ruled that Uber drivers are "workers", rather than self-employed individuals, and are entitled to the minimum wage under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, paid holiday, and other normal worker entitlements.[172] 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. Uber appealed the decision.[173] In December 2018, Uber lost an appeal of the case at the Court of Appeal, but was granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[174]

In March 2018, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, gave the legal opinion that under the conditions that bind drivers to Uber that they should be classified as employees.[175]

In April 2018, the California Supreme Court ruled in Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court that document delivery company Dynamex has misclassified its delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.[176] This ultimately led to California passing Assembly Bill 5 on September 11, 2019, which would require many jobs, to be classified as employees, with the according minimum wage protections and unemployment benefits, beginning in 2020.[177][178][179] Uber and Lyft both pledged to keep drivers classified as contractors, saying they could meet the requirements of the new test, and both pledged $30 million on a 2020 ballot initiative against AB 5.[180]

Drivers have complained that in some cases, after expenses, they earn less than minimum wage. As a result, in some jurisdictions, such as New York City, drivers are guaranteed a minimum wage. The New York City minimum wage was set at $26.51 before expenses or $17.22 after expenses in 2019, and an analysis by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission revealed that 85% of drivers made less than the minimum wage prior to the law.[181]

In May 2018, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the City of Seattle's attempt to engage in collective bargaining on behalf of ridesharing company workers was not entitled to state action immunity from the Sherman Antitrust Act.[182][183]

Ridesharing companies use dynamic pricing models; prices for the same route vary based on the supply and demand for rides at the time the ride is requested.[184] 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.[185] The rate quoted and they are to the rider reflects such dynamic pricing.[186]

Ridesharing companies were criticized for extreme surcharges during emergencies such as Hurricane Sandy,[187] the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis,[188] and the 2017 London Bridge attack,[189] especially when taxis offered to transport riders for free.

Ridesharing companies have been criticized for increasing traffic congestion in New York City and San Francisco.[190][191] A report published by Schaller Consulting in July 2018 showed that, as a result of ridesharing companies, traffic congestion increased in both cities, which already had comprehensive public transport systems in place.[192][193] A main reason was that a large number of people, who would otherwise have used public transport, shifted to services offered by transportation network companies. Compared with data in the report, taxis out-perform ridesharing companies in high-demand locations in terms of rider waiting time and vehicle empty driving time, and thus contribute less to congestion and pollution in downtown area.[194]

Studies have shown that ridesharing companies have led to a reduction in use of public transportation.[195]

The Union of Concerned Scientists found that due to extra miles driven by ride share vehicles prior to picking up passengers, "ride-hailing trips produce 47 percent more carbon emissions than a similar trip taken in your own private car." In addition, passengers often opt for a ride-hailing trip over more efficient public transportation or not taking a trip at all.[196]

In some areas, ridesharing companies are required by law to have a certain amount of wheelchair accessible vans (WAVs) on the road at any given time. This can be a difficult requirement for ridesharing companies to meet because the companies don't provide vehicles and most drivers do not own a WAV, causing a shortage.[197]

When a customer makes a pick-up request, a driver is notified via mobile app and is provided the customer's location. The driver has approximately 15 seconds to tap the phone to accept the request. In many jurisdictions, tapping a phone while driving is against the law as it could result in distracted driving.[198]

Uber Technologies has been a subject of several private antitrust legal cases in the United States and elsewhere. The main argument behind litigation rests with the fact that Uber does not actually provide services to consumers directly, instead, drivers are independent contractors and not employees. Antitrust law generally holds that price setting activities are permissible within business firms, but bars them beyond firm boundaries. The antitrust law’s firm exemption strictly applies to entities that a platform have a direct control over, such as employees. The core of Uber’s business model is the coordination of consumer prices across drivers as means to deliver upfront fares calculated by an algorithm. Uber has managed to avoid directly litigating this antitrust problem by compelling a consumer (Meyer v. Uber Technologies, Inc.) lawsuit to be moved into arbitration.[199]

1951 antitrust case United States v. Richfield Oil Co. the court ruled unequivocally for the government on the grounds that Richfield Oil Co. exercised de facto control over “independent business men,” in contravention of the antitrust laws, despite the fact that they were not employees of the company. This has become the basis for delineation between the realm of labor and antitrust: if subordinate entities are “independent business men” 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.

Online labor platforms like Uber, Lyft, Handy, Amazon Home Services, DoorDash, and Instacart have perfected a process where workers deal bilaterally with gigs whose employers have none of the standard obligations of employers, while the platform operates the entire labor market to its own benefit — what some antitrust experts call a “for-profit hiring hall.” [200]

Uber drivers are not employees, so then they must be independent businesses, and hence Uber setting the terms on which they transact with customers, including fixing the prices charged to customers, constitutes a violation of the Sherman Act’s ban on restraints of trade. The issue whether Uber is a price-fixing conspiracy, and whether that price-fixing is horizontal has yet to be resolved at trial. Uber publicly states 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.” [201]

While Uber is viewing drivers as contractors, courts in the United Kingdom[202] and Switzerland [203] consider their drivers to be employees of the company. The Guardian quoted a driver in March 2019 who said he was earning $3.75 per hour after expenses.[204] A report published by the Economic Policy Institute in 2018 found the average wage for drivers to be $9.21.[205] Austrian weekly papers Profil and Trend found the hourly wage of drivers to be at €4 and claimed a high incidence of tax evasion, social fraud and circumvention of labour laws by the companies employing drivers on Uber's behalf.[206][207] A 2017 report claimed that only 4 percent of all drivers were still working as such one year after entering the company.[208]

In November 2019, the New Jersey labor department gave Uber a $650 million bill for overdue unemployment and disability insurance taxes from the previous four years.[209]

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.[210][211][212]

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.[213]

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.[214]

In March 2018, a lawsuit filed against Uber in the United States accused the company's drivers of not serving a woman with cerebral palsy due to her service dog, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Texas Human Resources Code.[215][216]

In late January 2017, Uber was targeted by GrabYourWallet for collecting fares during a taxi strike in New York City in protest of Trump travel ban Executive Order 13769.[217] The Order had triggered a taxi strike in New York City, to which Uber responded by removing surge pricing from JFK airport, where Muslim refugees had been detained upon entry. Uber was also targeted because then-CEO Travis Kalanick joined an Economic Advisory Council with Donald Trump.[218] A social media campaign known as #deleteuber was formed in protest, resulting in approximately 200,000 users deleting the app.[219] Uber added user account deletion to meet the resulting surge in requests.[220] Statements were e-mailed to former users who had deleted their accounts, asserting that the company would assist refugees, and that CEO Kalanick joining the Council was not an endorsement of President Trump.[221] On February 2, 2017, Kalanick resigned from the business advisory council.[222]

When Uber was led by Travis Kalanick, the company took an aggressive strategy in dealing with obstacles, including regulators. In 2014, Kalanick said "You have to have what I call principled confrontation." Uber's strategy was generally to commence operations in a city, then, if it faced regulatory opposition, Uber mobilized public support for its service and mounted a political campaign, supported by lobbyists, to change regulations.[223][224][225]

In 2014, while in the midst of a regulatory battle, Portland, Oregon's transportation commissioner called Uber management "a bunch of thugs".[226]

In June 2014, Uber distributed to its riders the personal contact information of a commissioner in Virginia who opposed the company, and told riders to flood his inbox with complaints.[227][228]

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".[229]

In December 2019, Uber and Postmates sued California over labour law, alleging that legislation set to take effect in the US state, meant to improve worker conditions, unfairly targeted them, and should be considered unconstitutional. [230]

Uber issued an apology on January 24, 2014, after documents were leaked to Valleywag and TechCrunch saying that, earlier in the month, 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 two-fold: wasting drivers' time to obstruct legitimate customers from securing a car, and offering drivers incentives—including cash—to join Uber.[231]

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 in New York City and recruit their drivers to Uber. 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 also required to sign non-disclosure agreements.[232][233]

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 possibly independent parties trying to make money.[234][235]

Uber developed an internal software tool called Greyball, which uses data collected from the Uber mobile app and other means, to avoid giving rides to certain individuals. The tool was used starting in 2014. 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 is illegal. Investigative journalism by The New York Times and the resulting report, published on March 3, 2017, made public Uber's use of Greyball since 2014, describing it as a way to evade city code enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon, Australia, South Korea, and China.[236] 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.[236][237] 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 through factors such as whether a user frequently opens the app near government offices, a review of social media profiles by Uber employees to identify law enforcement personnel, and the credit cards associated with the Uber account.[236]

On March 6, 2017, the City of Portland, Oregon announced an investigation into whether Uber had used its Greyball software tool to obstruct the enforcement of city regulations.[238] 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."[239] 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.[240]

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.[241][242]

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.[243]

After a police raid in Uber's Brussels office, a January 2018 report by Bloomberg News stated that "Uber routinely used Ripley to thwart police raids in foreign countries."[244] Developed as a type of secret "panic button" system, initially called "unexpected visitor protocol", then nicknamed "Ripley", to disrupt government raids on Uber's offices by locking, shutting off, and changing passwords on staff computers upon a raid; Uber likely used this button at least 24 times, from spring 2015 until late 2016.[245][246]

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.[247][248][249] 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.[250] An Uber job interviewee said that he was given unrestricted access to Uber's customer tracking function as part of the interview process, and that he retained that access for several hours after the interview ended.[251]

On February 27, 2015, Uber admitted that it had suffered a data breach more than nine months prior. The names and license plate information from approximately 50,000 drivers were inadvertently disclosed.[252] Uber discovered this leak in September 2014, but waited more than five months to notify the affected individuals.[253]

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 gained 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.[254][255] Uber was subsequently criticized for concealing this data breach.[256] CEO Dara Khosrowshahi apologized.[257][258] Uber's British divisions were fined £385,000 (reduced to £308,000) by the Information Commissioner's Office.[259]

In September 2018, Uber settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $148 million and admitted that its claim that internal access to consumers' personal information was closely monitored on an ongoing basis was false. Uber also stated that it had failed to live up to its promise to provide reasonable security for consumer data.[260][261] It was the largest multi-state settlement related to a data breach.[262]

It is unclear if Uber is less or more safe than taxicabs, as major cities don't have much data on taxi-related incidents.[263]

Concerns regarding Uber's background checks were raised after reports of sexual abuse of passengers by Uber drivers. Sexual assaults in relation to Uber are most often committed by either Uber drivers themselves [264] or by individuals posing as Uber drivers. In the latter case, imposters have lured unsuspecting passengers to their vehicles by placing an Uber sticker on their dashboard or by claiming to be a passenger's expected driver.[265]

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.[266]

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. The fine amount equaled $2,500 per day that an unqualified driver worked.[267]

In November 2019, Transport for London (TfL) announced it would not renew Uber's license to operate in London for the second time in just over two years, following a two-month probationary extension granted in September 2019, on the grounds that Uber had failed to adequately address issues with checks on drivers, insurance and safety.[268][269][270] Part of TfL's rationale for removing Uber's licence was evidence that Uber driver accounts had been used by unauthorized drivers.[271][272]

In February 2016, Uber was criticized following the 2016 Kalamazoo shootings, a shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan that left six people dead and two wounded. It was committed by Jason Dalton, who was driving for Uber while conducting the shooting. During the ensuing seven-hour manhunt, authorities believe that Dalton continued to drive and accept fares. Uber was aware of issues with Dalton's driving skills, having received multiple complaints, though critics agree that Dalton would not have raised any red flags since he did not have a criminal record.[273]

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 of employment by another manager if she continued to report the incident. Kalanick was reportedly aware of the harassment issues.[274][275]

CTO Thuan Pham was alleged to have had knowledge of and to ignore Susan Fowler's sexual harassment allegations; however, investigations by TheInformation and Buzzfeed showed this to not be the case, allowing Pham to keep his job.[276][277]

Uber hired former attorney general Eric Holder to investigate the claims.[278] Arianna Huffington, a member of Uber's board of directors, also oversaw the investigation.[279] Fowler likened Uber's culture to A Game of Thrones, in which rivals vie for the throne the same way Uber employees were encouraged to vie for power and aggression and betrayal was common.[280][281][282] On February 20, 2017, Kalanick led a meeting with employees that was described by the participants as honest and raw.[283]

On February 27, 2017, Amit Singhal, Uber's Senior Vice President of Engineering, was forced to resign after it came to light that he failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him that occurred while he was the Vice President of Google Search.[284][285][286][287][288]

On June 6, 2017, Uber announced that it fired over 20 employees as a result of the investigation.[289][290] On June 13, 2017, Kalanick took an indefinite leave of absence from Uber.[291][292] On June 20, 2017, after multiple shareholders reportedly demanded his resignation, Kalanick resigned as CEO.[293][294]

At a private dinner in November 2014, Emil Michael, senior vice president of Uber, 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.[295] 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.[296][297][298] Michael issued a public apology[299] and apologized to Lacy in a personal email, claiming that Uber would never actually undertake the plan.[300][301] Several journalists deleted their Uber apps.[302] After several additional scandals involving Emil 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.[303]

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.[304]

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.[305][306]

On November 11, 2019, Uber was seen trending on Twitter on #BoycottUber, after the company's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi characterized Saudi Arabia's murder of Jamal Khashoggi as a "mistake" in comments. In his interview with Axios on HBO, he compared the assassination of Khashoggi to Uber’s decision of including self-driving cars, which resulted in a death of a woman in 2018. He called them both "mistakes" that can "be forgiven".[307]