Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 232) reports that at Travis Kalanick’s instruction, Uber began to track riders even after they had ended their rides. Isaac describes no proper purpose for this tracking, but says Kalanick “wanted to gain insight into … where people went after getting dropped off.”
Detected notifications from the Lyft app
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 232) reports that Uber used its app’s accelerometer and gyroscope to detect the sound of notifications that came from the Lyft app. If Uber knew that a driver also used Lyft, Uber could offer promotions designed to attract them to use Uber only.
Ill will towards Lyft
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 231) reports Travis Kalanick’s hostility towards competitor Lyft. He reports:
Kalanick took pleasure in hurting [Lyft leaders] Green and Zimmer, and showed them no mercy.
Isaac continues (p. 230): “He wanted to professionally humiliate [Zimmer].”
Kalanick obtained the right to stack board
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 230) reports that as part of a Saudi investment of $3.5 billion into Uber, Kalanick received the right to appoint three new directors of his personal choice to Uber’s board — cementing his control over Uber.
Raided CMU’s robotics department
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 228) that CMU was “furious” when Uber raided its robotics department — taking forty engineers into Uber’s research team.
Otto was a sham to transfer employees and know-how from Google
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 228) indicates that the transition of Anthony Levandowski and other colleagues at Google’s self-driving program, from Google to Otto, was a sham designed to streamline their transition to Uber. He explains that Levandowski created Otto “as if he were interested in pursuing his own trucking startup” (emphasis added). Otto’s discussion with venture capitalists were, Isaac says, “mostly for appearance’s sake.” Uber’s acquisition of Otto was, Isaac says, effectively preordained.
Levandowski’s colleagues touted “safety third”
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 226) reports that colleagues of Anthony Levandowski made stickers touting “Safety Third” — indicating that safety was not a top priority for self-driving truck company Otto or its founder.
Denied permission to film an autonomous vehicle on a public road, Levandowski did so anyway
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 193) reports that Anthony Levandowski, then working at the Otto autonomous truck startup he founded, sought permission from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles to video record a vehicle test on a public road. When the request was denied, Levandowski did so anyway.
Brazilian thieves and taxi cartels anonymously attacked, robbed, and even murdered drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 216) reports that in Brazil, Uber had a particularly light sign-up process: No identify documents, no credit card (since cash was more widely used), and just an email address or phone number. Thieves and taxi cartels could therefore sign up for Uber anonymously — then steal or burn cars, attack or rob drivers, and sometimes commit murder. Among the victims was Luis Filho, who was stabbed to death as passengers stole his vehicle.
Mexican taxi operators beat, robbed, and even murdered Uber drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 215) reports that taxi drivers in Mexico were frustrated at having spent spent thousands of dollars on licenses, permits, training classes, and other regulatory requirements — only for Uber to take their business. As cabbies grew more desperate, they beat and robbed Uber drivers — and killed one Uber driver in Guadalajara.