Revision as of 21:58, 13 April 2017

Uber

"Uber App" text Type Mobile Ride Service Application Launch Date 2010 Status Active Product Line product Platform iOS, Android Website Uber Website

Uber, Inc. is a ride-hailing company that can be used on mobile devices such as iOS and Android. Founded in 2009, the company now offers rides to users in 67 different countries in over 300 different cities across the world. The company's headquarters are located in San Francisco, California. ^[1] As of late 2015, Uber was valued at approximately $62.5 billion. ^[2] As a pioneer in the ride-hailing car industry, Uber has exposed itself to a myriad of ethical implications, namely in privacy, legality, and employee concerns.

History

Travis Kalanick, CEO

In 2008, Garrett Camp, the founder of StumbleUpon, wanted to solve the "taxi problem" in San Francisco, CA. He approached entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, and the two created the initial prototype UberCab in March 2009. The service was test-launched in New York City in January 2010 with 3 cars. In July 2010, UberCab went live in San Francisco. The company changed its formal name to Uber in October 2010. That November, Uber was added to Android phones.

In December 2010, Ryan Graves stepped down as Chief Executive Officer to become the Chief Operations Officer, and Travis Kalanick stepped in as CEO. By February 2011, the company had raised over $11 million in funds from different investors. Uber was launched in New York City in May 2011. By the end of that year, Uber had raised over an additional $35 million.

In July 2012, Uber launched UberX, a hybrid vehicle service that is cheaper. By April 2014, Uber's services were offered in over 100 cities. ^[3]

Application Features

Requesting a Ride

Users must first create an Uber account linked to a phone number and credit card. When requesting a ride, Uber uses GPS tracking on iOS and Android devices in order to determine the location of the user. Uber then connects you with the nearest driver based on your location. The name of the driver, their rating, and their car will appear on your device, and Uber will text your phone when your driver has arrived. You can track your driver's status on the application's map. Users will receive an estimated time of arrival, and can share this ETA with their contacts if they wish. Passengers can also allow someone in their contacts to monitor their Uber trip to make sure that they safely arrive at their location. ^[4]

Different Cars

UberX

UberX is Uber's most basic car service. This service seats a minimum of 4 people and requires that the cars have been made in 2000 or newer. ^[5]

UberXL

UberXL offers a car service that seats at least 6 people. Often times, these cars are either SUVs or MiniVans. UberXL has a higher base fare than UberX. ^[6]

UberSelect

UberSelect allows users to ride in a luxury sedan that has leather interior with up to 4 passengers. Base fare pricing is higher for UberSelect than for UberXL. ^[7]

UberBlack (Black Car)

UberBlack is a step up from UberSelect, and is advertised as Uber's executive luxury service. UberBlack has the highest base fare price out of all the options. ^[8]

UberPOOL

UberPOOL allows users to share a ride with others that are headed in the same direction. This service is currently only offered in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Paris. When users select UberPOOL, they will be matched with another user in the area headed to a nearby location. The ride fare is split between the two users. Additionally, there are only certain areas where you can take an UberPOOL. For example, in NYC, riders are geofenced outside of airports, and can only go as far as certain locations. ^[9]

Uber Side Projects

UberEats

On April 15, 2015, Uber rolled out its UberEats service in New York City and Chicago. The service pairs up with local restaurants to offer food choices to customers, and the customers can order food in the same way that they order a ride. The restaurant offers one meal from a restaurant per day, and promises that the food will be delivered in ten minutes or less. This service was announced after successful test runs in cities such as LA and Barcelona.^[10] More recently, Uber launched its first standalone delivery app, UberEats in Toronto. This is separate than the iterations being used in places such as New York City and LA, and has a few added features. In an effort to make ordering food simpler, UberEats offers five options from local restaurants in your area. These options are delivered in five to ten minutes. For those that want more of a choice, they can use the Popular Items page for every restaurant Uber partners with. These take a little longer to be delivered, but do offer more choices. ^[11]

UberCargo

In January 2015, Uber Launched UberCargo in Hong Kong. This add on for people that live in the city allow people to hail a van, load it up with their stuff, and send it across town.The app also allows users to track where their things are going if they do not choose to ride along with it.^[12]

UberRUSH

UberRUSH allows businesses that rely on deliveries to get their products to customers. This service is only currently available in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. A businesses can call the messenger just like they do on the traditional Uber platform. The messenger will then come to pick up(on bike or foot) whatever it is that needs to be delivered, and goes on their way. The location of the package can be shared with the customer. Uber also provides a list of items that are not allowed to be shipped. The items on that list are: People or animals of any size, Alcohol, Illegal items, Fragile items, Very expensive or rare items, Dangerous items (weapons, explosives, flammable, etc.), Stolen goods, or Any items for which you do not have permission to send^[13]

UberMovers

Uber briefly offered a moving service for college students in Atlanta, Georgia called UberMovers. On Saturday, August 16, students had the ability to hire a pair of UberMovers for 30 minutes at a price of 30 dollars. The services that the UberMovers were able to perform were: mattress lifting, unloading moving pods, hauling junk, and otherwise moving items on site into the place of residence.^[14]

UberChopper

Most recently offered at the popular Coachella music festival, Uber is partnering with different helicopter services around the world to offer SUV-to-helicopter rides. The same service was also offered in New York City, in partnership with helicopter company Blade. The prices range anywhere from $600 to $850 depending on the package, and costing as little as $80 in New Delhi. Catering to a higher-paying audience, the service includes admission to an exclusive Blade lounge on NYC's 34th Street, overlooking the East River. ^[15]

Pricing

Uber will offer fare estimates in advance if you wish to know approximately how much your ride will cost. When your ride is complete, Uber will automatically charge it to your credit card. Users do not need to carry a card or any cash for the ride or for a tip. ^[16]Different cities may have different base fares and prices depending on the speed at which the car drives. If the car drives above 11mph, the cost of the ride is based solely on distance traveled. If the driver is moving at a speed under 11mph, then the cost of the ride is dependent on the time of the ride. ^[17]

When demand for Uber rides increases significantly, Uber uses an algorithm to implement surge pricing. Surge pricing will raise the base fare by a certain amount based on demand, and users will have to take an additional step when requesting an Uber to confirm that they agree to surge pricing. Just as base fares for Uber vary by city, so too do surge prices affect cities differently. ^[18]

Uber offers a split fare feature as well, where users can divide the cost of the ride among the passengers. Uber charges an additional $0.25 for every that requests to split a fare.^[19]

Ratings and Reviews

Uber requires passengers to rate their drivers after their trip on a scale of 1-5 stars. If a rating is particularly low, Uber will follow up with his rider to learn more about their experience. Depending on consistency of ratings or feedback from riders, Uber has the power to no longer allow a driver to be a driver for Uber. They also have a 6th star award for drivers who go above and beyond what is required of a driver. ^[20]

Similarly, drivers have the opportunity to rate passengers after a ride is complete based on their behavior or if there were any other issues. This may lead to increased waiting time for passengers. Customers can check their rating at any time by going to Help --> Settings --> I'd Like To Know My Rating. There can be issues with this because when splitting a fare or a ride, one's rating may be affected by others around them.

The average rating for drivers can be seen by the passenger once the request is confirmed and vice versa regarding the passenger's rating.

Ethical Issues

Privacy

Uber faces two separate issues in regards to privacy. The first concerns the privacy of Uber's customers. In the past few years, Uber has received a lot of backlash when it was disclosed that Uber can track the location of its users, even when users are not actively using the application. This tool is known as 'God View.' Uber continues to claim that the company has the right to use constant location tracking in order to determine customer demand and other factors that affect their services. However, many feel that Uber is tracking users for no apparent reason. In one specific case, a journalist was tracked for no business purpose. ^[21] Many users feel that their privacy is violated through this Ubiquitous Computing. Users must have location services turned on on their mobile devices in order for Uber to track location. ^[22]

The second privacy controversy relates to Uber's employees, particularly their drivers. In 2014, Uber experienced a data breach, where over 50,000 employee names and license plates were retrieved. Uber only released a statement about this data breach six months after the incident. Employees with identities at risk were offered free identity protection services for a year following. ^[23]

Employee Concerns

Drivers

Uber has been in the spotlight for multiple sexual assault charges against their drivers. In 2015, investigations revealed at least 25 California drivers that had criminal records, such as burglary or sexual assault, due to a lack of a thorough background check. ^[24] This resulted in a lawsuit against Uber and the creation of a new competing app, Chariot for Women, which is a personal driver app designed for women and children in order to have a safer experience.

In February 2016, in Kalamazoo Michigan, an Uber driver went on a shooting spree killing six people and injuring two more. The driver even picked up people and drove them where they needed to go in-between his killings. A man who rode with him during this 7 hour shooting spree said that he drove erratically: blowing through stop signs, driving through lawns, and over the median. Uber executives quickly made a statement saying they were horrified and would aid in the investigation as much as they could. The driver ended up having no prior criminal record and there seemed to be no red flags with allowing him to be a driver. ^[25]

Corporate

There have also been concerns of discrimination, intimidation and sexual harassment at the corporate office. In February 2017, Susan Fowler, a former Uber engineer, published a blog post detailing her personal experience with sexual harassment in the workplace. It was reported that HR representatives, CTO Thuan Pham, and CEO Travis Kalanick were aware of these issues within Uber yet nothing was done. After the release of her blog post, and a flurry of media attention, the company's chief executive, Travil Kalanick, opened an internal investigation into the accusations. ^[26]

Competition

In 2014, Uber documents were released exposing them for sabotaging their competitors. Uber employees would create accounts and request rides, only to cancel them. This tactic makes it hard for genuine customers to access drivers. Even more seriously, Uber employees reportedly offered cash incentives to competitor employees to leave the company. ^[27] Uber's lack of "business ethics" has given customers second thoughts about using the application for these ethical reasons.

Legality

Additionally, Uber has received many lawsuits claiming that they are an unlicensed taxi company, and are putting taxi drivers out of business. In order to be a legal taxi driver in many cities, individuals must pay for expensive medallions in order to be a licensed driver. Uber drivers do not need to pay for such a thing. ^[28] As a result, many cities and taxi companies have begun to fight Uber in legal battles, or have begun to enact laws to limit Uber's scope of service. Uber continues to fight these battles in court. ^[29] In April of 2016 Uber was fined $11.6 million by the Public Utilities Commission of the state of Pennsylvania for operating without proper approval from the state for a six-month period in 2014. The fine was the largest the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission had ever leveraged against a company by almost $10 million. The $11.6 million fine was still a reduction from the original $50 million fine two judges had order in a ruling last year. In a statement published in response to the Public Utilities Commission’s ruling, Uber said that they were disappointed with the ruling and have vowed to appeal the decision with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. ^[30]

Surge Pricing

Legislators have argued that surge pricing might be a violation of antitrust law. One court ruling suggests that Uber’s use of a surge pricing algorithm to set fares for all drivers in a given area could be viewed as a price-fixing conspiracy, especially since Uber considers its drivers to be independent operators rather than employees. States including California and New York have fought the issue of the surge pricing algorithm, but the company continues to utilize the surge pricing model as an essential aspect of their business model. ^[31]. In 2014, Uber announced they would cease price surges during states of emergency or disaster ^[32]. Local governments have previously proposed laws to expand those policies to a day-to-day basis ^[33].

However, during the rollout of the Trump Administration's travel-ban in early 2017, Uber was accused of profiting from the chaos ensuing at JFK International Airport in New York City, when the New York Taxi Workers Alliance stopped service to the airport to protest the ban. This prompted users all over America to delete the application from their smartphones, effectively boycotting Uber's operation, as the elimination of surge pricing during this time suggested they were taking advantage of the situation ^[34].

See Also

References

1. ↑ Our Cities https://go.uber.com/cities
2. ↑ Uber Raises Funding at $62.5 Billion Valuation, Eric Newcomer, 3 December 2015 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-03/uber-raises-funding-at-62-5-valuation
3. ↑ A Brief History of Uber, Julian Chokkattu, Jordan Crook, 14 August 2014 http://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-uber/
4. ↑ https://go.uber.com/ride/
5. ↑ What’s the difference between UberX, XL, UberSelect, and Black Car?, Dough, 16 November 2014 http://www.ridesharingdriver.com/whats-the-difference-between-uberx-xl-uberplus-and-black-car/
6. ↑ What’s the difference between UberX, XL, UberSelect, and Black Car?, Dough, 16 November 2014 http://www.ridesharingdriver.com/whats-the-difference-between-uberx-xl-uberplus-and-black-car/
7. ↑ What’s the difference between UberX, XL, UberSelect, and Black Car?, Dough, 16 November 2014 http://www.ridesharingdriver.com/whats-the-difference-between-uberx-xl-uberplus-and-black-car/
8. ↑ What’s the difference between UberX, XL, UberSelect, and Black Car?, Dough, 16 November 2014 http://www.ridesharingdriver.com/whats-the-difference-between-uberx-xl-uberplus-and-black-car/
9. ↑ What’s UberPOOL? A shared ride that’s cheaper than other Uber services, Dough, 12 March 2015 http://www.ridesharingdriver.com/whats-uberpool-shared-ride-cheaper-than-other-uber-services/
10. ↑ WIRED UberEatshttp://www.wired.com/2015/04/ubereats-new-york-chicago-uber/
11. ↑ Uber Eats Torontohttp://www.wired.com/2015/12/ubereats-is-ubers-first-app-thats-not-about-rides/
12. ↑ https://newsroom.uber.com/hong-kong/en/a-ride-for-your-goods-introducing-ubercargo/
13. ↑ Uber Newsroomhttps://newsroom.uber.com/us-new-york/a-reliable-ride-for-your-deliveries/
14. ↑ UBERMOVERS Pagehttps://newsroom.uber.com/us-georgia/make-college-move-in-easy-with-ubermovers/
15. ↑ UBERCHOPPER Pagehttps://newsroom.uber.com/us-california/take-off-with-uberchopper-to-coachella-valley/
16. ↑ https://go.uber.com/ride/
17. ↑ Uber Pulls in Another $32M for App-based Car Service, Krystal Peak, 7 December 2011 http://vator.tv/news/2011-12-07-uber-pulls-in-another-32m-for-app-based-car-service
18. ↑ Worth It? An App to Get a Cab, Lauren Goode, 17 June 2011 http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/06/17/worth-it-an-app-to-get-a-cab/
19. ↑ https://go.uber.com/ride/
20. ↑ Uber [1] Retrieved on 20 April 2016
21. ↑ Senator Al Franken Asks Uber’s CEO Tough Questions On User Privacy, John Biggs, 19 November 2014 http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/19/senator-al-franken-asks-ubers-ceo-tough-questions-on-user-privacy/?ncid=rss
22. ↑ Uber May Track You 24/7, Aaron Smith, 23 June 2015 http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/23/technology/uber-ftc-complaint-tracking/
23. ↑ 50,000 Uber Driver Names, License Numbers Exposed in a Data Breach, Megan Geuss, 28 February 2015 http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/50000-uber-driver-names-license-plate-numbers-exposed-in-a-data-breach/
24. ↑ DA: major flaws in Uber background checks allow criminal drivers, Carolyn Said, 19 August 2015 http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/DA-major-flaws-in-Uber-background-checks-allow-6453865.php?t=128a1259eb7d4f3860&cmpid=email-premium
25. ↑ Conlon, Kevin; Valencia, Nick. Kalamazoo Uber driver picked up fares between killings, source says Retrieved on 10 April, 2017
26. ↑ Isaac, Mike · (February 22, 2017) · Inside Uber's Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture · work · The New York Times · April 9, 2017
27. ↑ Uber Employees Spammed Competing Car Service with Fake Orders, Dante D'Orazio, 24 January 2014 http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/24/5342582/uber-employees-spammed-competing-car-service-with-fake-orders
28. ↑ The Big Idea Behind the Battle Between Uber and Yellow Cabs, Jeffrey Tucker, 24 October 2015 http://www.newsweek.com/big-idea-behind-battle-between-uber-and-yellow-cabs-386650
29. ↑ Uber CEO: I Think I've Got 20,000 Years Of Jail Time In Front Of Me, MG Siegler, 25 May 2011 http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/25/uber-airbnb-jail-time/
30. ↑ Kokalitcheva, K (2016). “Pennsylvania Fines Uber $11.4 Million for Operating Without Approval”. Fortune Magazine. http://fortune.com/2016/04/21/pennsylvania-uber-fine/
31. ↑ Is Uber’s surge pricing legal? Court will decide. http://blog.sfgate.com/cmcginnis/2016/04/18/is-ubers-surge-pricing-legal-court-will-decide/
32. ↑ Uber Agrees to Limit Surge Pricing During Emergencies, Disasters. http://time.com/2967490/uber-agrees-to-limit-surge-pricing-during-emergencies-disasters/
33. ↑ City Council proposes law requiring car-hailing apps, like Uber, to provide fare quotes to prevent surge pricing shock http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/council-proposes-law-curb-uber-surge-pricing-shock-article-1.2592636
34. ↑ Why people are deleting Uber from their phones after Trump’s executive order http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/29/14431246/uber-trump-muslim-ban