Various Uber drivers have attacked passengers. Representative examples: In March 2014, a Chicago passenger sued Uber after her driver locked the car and groped her. In June 2014, a Los Angeles driver kidnapped a woman who had passed out in his car.
In an internal crisis communication message that was accidentally made public, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick blamed the media for suggesting that Uber was liable for driver misconduct.
In response to an internal review, Uber fired 20 employees for harassment, discrimination, and inappropriate behavior. 31 other employees were undergoing further training, and 57 additional complaints remained under review.
The California Public Utility Commission found that Uber violated CPUC “zero-tolerance” rules in its handling of 151 complaints, failing to suspend and/or investigate the drivers. In only 22 of 154 complaints did Uber suspend the driver within one hour of a passenger complaint. Furthermore, some of the supposedly-suspended driers were nonetheless able to log in to Uber, respond to ride requests, and provide additional rides.
CPUC further found that, contrary to CPUC rules, Uber failed to implement a “zero tolerance” policy that immediately suspended a driver for a DUI allegation. Instead, Uber’s process had multiple steps and multiple opportunities for error by Uber staff. In contrast, CPUC rules required Uber to suspend the driver before verifying the validity of the complaint.
CPUC also found limited evidence that Uber followed up with passengers to investigate allegations, including Uber failing to follow up in several hours or even a full day after a passenger’s complaint.
In light of these practices, CPUC recommended a penalty of $1.1 million.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, previously an Uber zealot, told the Wall Street Journal that he had become disillusioned with the company. Peduto wanted Uber to give more back to the city, including hiring local talent, providing better work conditions for Uber’s drivers, improving fuel efficiency, expanding service to elderly residents, and supporting the city’s federal grant applications.
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.)
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.
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.