The taxi-hailing app is considered both brilliant and controversial, depending on who you ask. Here we’ve documented the company’s journey to a $50 billion valuation.
Disclaimer: it’s been a bit of a bumpy one…
Contents
Italy bans Uber for unfair competition
10 April 2017
Uber has been ordered to stop all activities across the entirety of Italy, Reuters reports.
The ban comes after courts ruled that Uber represents unfair competition for taxi drivers, claiming that Uber doesn’t respect transportation laws.
Uber has been granted 10 days to stop all its activities including any advertising and marketing campaigns. After that, the company must pay €10,000 (£8,533) per day if it continues to operate.
Uber president Jeff Jones steps down
20 March 2016
After joining the company less than six months ago, Uber president Jeff Jones is stepping down, in a move that was “completely unexpected” by colleagues.
The BBC reports that Jones grew frustrated that a new COO was being appointed and he was not being considered for the position. However, according to Recode, Jones’s departure is due to Uber’s ongoing controversies surrounding sexism and sexual harassment.
In a statement on Sunday Uber said: “We want to thank Jeff for his six months at the company and wish him all the best.”
Uber shuts down UberTAXI in London
13 March 2017
Uber announced last week that it’s shutting down its UberTAXI service in London, as of the 31 March 2017.
Launched in 2014, UberTAXI lets Uber customers hail black cabs through its mobile app, rather than a normal Uber car.
“Since we first launched UberTAXI, hundreds of black cab drivers have taken tens of thousands of trips through the Uber app. However, in recent months, those numbers have tailed off,” said Uber in a blog post published Friday afternoon.
“At Uber we always want our riders to be able to get a car whenever they want and wherever they are – no matter which option on our app they choose. That hasn’t been the case recently with UberTAXI, which is why we will be ending this option on 31 March,” it added.
In the statement, Uber said that it would be focusing on car-sharing options and even fully electric cars.
Uber CEO apologises after being caught on video arguing with driver about fares
1 March 2017
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has apologised after a video obtained by Bloomberg showed him in a heated exchange with Uber driver Fawzi Kamel.
Kamel expressed his distress at the way Uber treats its drivers, even telling the CEO: “I’m bankrupt because of you”.
“You’re raising the standards, and you’re dropping the prices,” said Kamel. “People are not trusting you anymore. I lost $97,000 because of you. I’m bankrupt because of you.” Kamel then added: “You keep changing every day.”
In response, Kalanick said: “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck!” Then he proceeded to slam the car door.
Google’s self-driving firm Waymo is suing Uber
24 February 2017
Waymo is taking legal action against Otto, a self-driving vehicle company bought by Uber last year for $700m. Uber is being sued for stealing trade secrets and technology, according to the BBC.
The lawsuit alleges that Anthony Levandowski, a former Waymo employee, took information from Waymo by ‘downloading 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary design files’ before moving on to cofound Otto.
“Our parent company Alphabet has long worked with Uber in many areas, and we didn’t make this decision lightly,” said Waymo in a blog post.
Uber CEO steps down from Trump’s advisory council
3 February 2017
Following heavy criticism of Uber’s practices during recent anti-Trump protests, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has stepped down from Donald Trump’s economic advisory council.
Kalanick said that his participation was ‘misinterpreted’ as an endorsement of Trump’s agenda.
“Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community.
“I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,” said Kalanick in an email to Uber employees obtained by the Guardian.
#DeleteUber leads to more than 200,000 people to delete their Uber accounts
2 February 2017
After the protests against Trump’s executive order banning refugees and nationals of seven Muslim countries last week, Uber was accused of trying to profit from the protest.
This has led to over 200,000 people deleting their Uber accounts following the #DeleteUber boycott, according to a report from The New York Times.
Uber’s self-driving cars pick up passengers in San Francisco
14 December 2016
Uber’s self-driving cars will pick up passengers in the San Francisco area today. This expansion of Uber’s Pittsburg trial earlier this year involves each enabled Volvo SUV housing a safety driver and an Uber test engineer to take start manually driving the car when needed and monitor the smart technology.
All passengers need to do is request an uberX using the standard consumer-facing mobile app.
Uber employees reportedly caught spying on celebrities and former partners
13 December 2016
According to reports, Uber employees have been spying on celebrities and former partners. Uber staff used its ‘God’s View’ feature to monitor the movements of “high-profile politicians, celebrities and even personal acquaintances of Uber employees, including ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, and ex-spouses”, wrote Samuel Ward Spangenberg’s, Uber’s former forensic investigator. Earlier this year Spangenberg was fired from Uber over age discrimination.
Uber told Reveal in a statement: “we have hundreds of security and privacy experts working around the clock to protect our data. This includes enforcing to authorised employees solely for purposes of their job responsibilities, and all potential violations are quickly and thoroughly investigated.” Uber also said that its “God View” tool no longer existed, instead opting for an internal tool called “Heaven View”.
Uber’s self-driving truck Otto makes its first delivery
26 October 2016
Uber has joined forces with AB InBev to transport 50,000 bottles of Budweiser, in what is thought to be the world’s first self-driving commercial delivery.
The truck transported the beer more than 120 miles with police vehicles in tow, with reports suggesting the truck driver was relaxing in the back sleeping cab.
Uber starts mapping UK city streets
16 September 2016
From today Uber will be collecting images of UK city streets, starting with London. According to the BBC, these images will be used to determine the best pick-up and drop-off points around the city with plans to expand mapping activities to Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. This image data will most likely aid Uber’s driverless cars ambitions.
Uber to launches self-driving car pickups in Pittsburgh
14 September 2016
During an interview with Bloomberg last month, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick revealed that it will deploy around 100 ‘driverless cars’ in Pittsburgh.
Each vehicle will be fitted with self-driving capabilities and be staffed by one engineer, designed to take control of the car if needed and a co-pilot to note its progress, with the addition of a computer to record trips and map their data.
This move comes after Uber acquired Otto, a startup aiming to deliver autonomy to lorries and trucks. Numerous reports have suggested Uber may use these capabilities in its own driverless car plan, or potentially its own driverless lorry business.
Uber takes legal action over TfL’s plan to force drivers to take written English test
18 August 2016
Uber is taking legal action against London’s transport authority TFL over its plans to force Uber drivers to pass a written exam in English.
The legal battle centres on TFL’s new rules for private hire drivers that require people from non-English speaking countries to take (and pass) a mandatory written English test costing £200.
In addition to this, Uber has taken issue with TfL’s rule that drivers must be covered by commercial insurance during out-of-work hours.
Uber celebrates four years of service in London
29 June 2016
Uber has been operating in London since 2012 when it launched 90 cars in the capital. In the same year Uber rolled out services to Toronto and Sydney with a soft launch in Singapore taking place in early 2013.
Uber introduces business profiles
19 November 2015
Uber has introduced a new feature which allows all of its users to switch between their personal and business profiles, so that business trips are charged straight back to the company.
This will cut down on the need to keep receipts and file expense forms, but could also lead to some red faces if users forget to switch between accounts.
Read more here.
Uber chief jumps ship
The man in charge of Uber’s international expansion is leaving the taxi-app company, following regulatory challenges in Europe.
Neil Wass, the senior vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific will leave Uber at the end of the year, according to the Financial Times.
Uber reportedly bids $3bn for Nokia’s Here mapping business
8 May 2015
Taxi-app Uber has bid for Nokia’s Here mapping business in a bid to reduce its dependence on Google, reports suggest.
Read more here.
Uber and Lyft drivers could soon be subject to stricter background checks
27 April 2015
A US court is mulling over a bill that would subject Massachusetts-based drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft to criminal background checks.
That safety provision is just one outlined in a bill that is designed to regulate ride-sharing companies without stifling them.
Read more here.
Uber under attack for alleged discrimination against blind passengers
21 April 2015
A court case that alleges Uber discriminates against blind passengers will be allowed to proceed despite an attempt by Uber to have it thrown out, a California judge ruled.
The lawsuit, which concerns several alleged incidents in which Uber drivers refused service to blind passengers with service animals, represents another battle over whether Uber should be governed by the sale rules that cover taxis, buses and other public transportation companies.
Read more here.
Uber in “sharing economy” standoff with UK government
20 March 2015
Uber is in a standoff with the government over whether or not it is part of the sharing economy in the UK, Techworld can reveal.
The San Francisco-headquartered company has expressed an interest in joining the newly-created, government-backed Sharing Economy UK (SEUK) trade body but there are a number of obstacles that need to be overcome beforehand.
Read more here.
Uber back in court after Californian taxi firms accuse it of false advertising
19 March 2015
Taxi companies in California have sued Uber Technologies in a federal court, charging the ride-hailing smartphone app company with misleading advertising regarding the safety of its rides.
Uber has made false and misleading advertisements regarding the safety of rides on its UberX platform, and criticised the safety of taxi rides offered by the taxi companies, the 19 firms said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division.
Read more here.
Uber and Lyft business model faces challenge over driver status
11 March 2015
The two companies want to classify their drivers as contractors rather than employees, which means they are not subject to employment protection law.
In separate cases, two federal judges said the status of the companies’ drivers will need to be decided by juries. If the drivers are considered employees, they could be entitled to minimum wages and any tips that customers pay, as well as other benefits. In that sense, the case is seen as a legal test that could affect other companies in the “sharing economy.”
[Source:-Techworld ]
