Uber backed a Nevada ballot question that would limit how much Nevada attorneys can charge in civil cases. Attorneys said that these limits would prevent them from taking on risky cases such as claims by victims of sexual assault against Uber and its drivers.
#deleteUber campaign
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 254) describes users’ online protest against Uber, inspired by Uber’s apparent refusal to honor a taxi strike in response to a Trump travel ban. Chicago writer Dan O’Sullivan Tweeted “congrats to @Uber_NYC on breaking a strike to profit off of refugees being consigned to Hell”, then “Don’t like @Uber’s exploitative anti-labor policies & Trump collaboration, now profiting off xenophobia? #deleteUber.” O’Sullivan then pointed out the surprisingly difficult task of deleting an Uber account.
Tens of thousands joined the #deleteUber protest, often posting screenshots of their account deletions. Within a week, more than 500,000 people deleted their Uber accounts, while others removed the app from their phones.
Tracked riders after rides ended
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.”
Detailed taxonomy of sexual misconduct and assault
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 207) that complaints about sexual misconduct and assault (typically though not exclusively between drivers and passengers) were so common that Uber created a twenty-one category classification system for these problems.
Denied refund to passenger whose driver extended ride and used passenger phone to give himself a tip
After a passenger forgot her phone in a driver’s vehicle, the driver realized — and drove a lengthy additional route, plus gave himself a large tip. He also used the Uber app to file a complaint against the passenger and, using the passenger’s phone, wrote a fake response.
The passenger complained to Uber, which initially gave her a partial refund but then removed that refund. Uber later suggested that she contact local law enforcement, and only after she did so did Uber refund the charges (ultimately adding a gift card for a future trip).
Multiple competition regulators questioned Uber-Grab deal
Reviewing Uber’s proposed sale of its Southeast Asia business to Grab, the Competition Commisison of Singapore (CCS) announced that it is looking into the transaction.
Broadly, CCS said the proposed transaction would bring “substantial lessening of competition in relation to the chauffeured personal point-to-point transport passenger and booking services market in Singapore.” CCS therefore required Uber and Grab to maintain their pre-transaction pricing, policies, and products, and not to exchange any confidential information.
After CCS’s statement of concern, Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission also announced that it would examine the proposed transaction. The Philippines’ anti-trust agency, the Philippine Competition Commission, then stated similar concerns: “There are reasonable grounds that the said acquisition may likely substantially lessen, prevent, or restrict competition.”
Coverage from TechCrunch and prior critique from the author of this site.
Poised to sell Southeast Asia assets to Grab
Uber announced plans to sell its Southeast Asia assets to Grab, the dominant ride-hailing firm in that region. This transaction raised competition concerns because Grab and Uber jointly controlled the overwhelming majority of ride-hailing service in the region. The transaction thus created an effective monopoly for Grab — allowing the company to charge higher prices and fees, to the detriment of both drivers and passengers.
Sold Chinese assets to Didi
Rather than continuing to compete with Didi Chuxing, the dominant ride-hailing service in China, Uber sold its Chinese assets to that firm — essentially ending competition in ride-hailing in that country.
This transaction raised several concerns. One, Didi and Uber jointly controlled the overwhelming majority of ride-hailing service in China. The nearest competitor had just 3.3% market share as of the time of the transaction. The transaction thus created an effective monopoly for Didi — allowing Didi to charge higher prices and fees, to the detriment of both drivers and passengers.
Two, as part of the transaction, Uber received 17.5% ownership of Didi, and Didi in turn held an investment in Lyft. So the Didi-Uber deal made Uber a part owner of its biggest US competitor.
Uber Eats driver allegedly shoots and kills customer
NPR reports a Uber Eats driver shooting and killing a driver after the two exchanged words incident to delivery.
Uber said it is against company policy for drivers to carry firearms of any kind while using Uber apps. NPR pointed out that it is unclear whether or how Uber enforces this policy.
Banned in Delhi after driver allegedly raped passenger
Uber was temporarily banned in Delhi, India in December 2014 after a driver allegedly took a passenger to a secluded area and raped her. The decision followed mounting accusations that the company had failed to conduct proper background checks on drivers.
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 188) presents the incident in greater detail: The driver noticed that the passenger had fallen asleep, and raped her in the back seat of his vehicle. Afterwards, he threatened to murder her if she told the police.