Uber’s data reflected that its staff had to intervene on average once per mile, suggesting that Uber’s autonomous technology was far from reliable.
In contrast, Google reported that its human drivers took over once every 5,000 miles.
Self-driving cars missed at least six red lights in San Francisco
Attempted to test self-driving cars in California without a permit; registrations revoked by DMV
Refused to honor taxi strike protesting Trump travel ban
When taxi drivers at JFK Airport went on strike to protest President Trump’s travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, Uber continued service. While Uber claimed that continued service would assist passengers in completing their journeys, critics saw Uber profiteering and failing to honor an important principle.
Criticism was sharpened because Uber CEO Travis Kalanick at the time served as a strategic advisor to Trump, suggesting that he supported the travel ban or Trump’s policies more generally. (Kalanick later stepped down from that advisory role.)
Tracked driver activity on Lyft servers
News site The Information in April 2017 reported that Uber built a program it called “Hell” to track how many Lyft drivers were available, where they were located, and whether they drove for Uber also. Uber then targeted these drivers with special promotions to encourage them to use Uber only.
By all indications, Uber collected data for “Hell” by connecting to Lyft’s servers in a manner prohibited by Lyft’s Terms of Service.
The Information reported that Uber then-CEO Travis Kalanick personally praised the Hell team, saying that they demonstrated Uber’s culture in their willingness to “hustle” in order to win.
In September 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported the FBI investigating Uber’s “Hell” practices.
Bloomberg reports that Hell was overseen by Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer of Uber, through a team formerly known as Competitive Intelligence.
See also the “Surfcam” program whereby Uber tracked data from Grab.
“Fingerprinting” iPhones to track reinstalls
In 2015, Uber added code to its iPhone app to recognize when it had been deleted on a phone, then reinstalled. The New York Times said this method “violated Apple’s privacy guidelines” and reported that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was summoned to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook, who insisted that Uber cease the practice or be removed from Apple’s App Store.
Tracked users when app runs in the background
A May 2015 change in Uber’s privacy policy allows the company to access users’ locations even when the app is running in the background. Uber described this as “get[ting] people on their way more quickly.” But it also sharply increased the private information sent to Uber.
Details in a 2015 complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, submitted to the FTC. Recode in June 2017 reported the FTC opening an inquiry.
Failed to disclose $6.3 million of lobbying expenses in NY
In June 2017, Uber was fined $98,000 for underreporting how much it spent on lobbying in New York, having failed to report $6.3 million of expenditure in its 2015-2016 registration.
Women underrepresented on Uber’s technical staff
Fortune reports that Uber’s engineering team is just 15.1% women — calling that figure “bad–even by tech industry standards.” (Compare Facebook at 17%, Google at 19%, Apple at 23%, and Airbnb at 26%.)
Employee misconduct: drugs, theft, groping, threats of violence
In February 2017, the New York Times reported misconduct by Uber employees: A manager groped a female co-worker’s breasts at a company retreat, a director shouted a homophobic slur at a subordinate, a manager threatened to beat an underperforming employee with a baseball bat, employees used cocaine at private parties, and an employee hijacked a shuttle bus and took it for a joy ride.