(music pops)
- So Uber is making some changes to its app.
- This is the beginning and not the end
of our moving to really think of Uber
as the operating system for your city life.
- It sounds good, but it's not exactly ground breaking.
Uber is moving things around inside the app.
Streamlining it.
Making it easier to us.
And they're also adding some things,
like public transportation, which makes sense
when you consider what Uber's ultimate goal is.
Now for years, Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi
has been saying that he wants Uber
to become the
- Amazon for transportation.
- [Andrew] And now they're finally making it happen.
When we sat down with Khosrowshahi recently
to talk about some of these new details exclusively
and he also walked us through some of the challenges
that Uber's facing too.
He let us take the new app out for a spin,
which we did on a subway.
(upbeat music)
- Then you can go down see routes and it says leaves
in two, five, eight minutes.
It's a six minute walk.
Shows you where to walk to get to the station.
- That looks good.
- Should we roll?
- That looks good.
Let's do it.
- Let's do it.
- [Andrew] Do you think this is a better experience
than your Google maps, your city mapper?
- It's a comparable experience, but ultimately it's better
because you have all of your choices here.
It's Amazon product search versus, let's say,
Google product search.
Because we're so focused on city transportation,
which is where the majority of our business is.
Because we're so focused about the complete experience.
It's not just information, but ultimately we want
to integrate information that allows you to take action
and purchase this transit option.
- Uber doesn't want to just be an app.
It wants to be a platform for every mode
of urban transportation you could possibly think of.
Even if it's not making money off of some of those modes.
You see, the more stuff that Uber can cram into its app,
like bikes and scooters and buses and subway,
the better chance it has to squeeze money out
of all that engagement.
- [Dara] To some extent, we're competing against ourselves.
- You're not making money off of this, so why offer it?
- One, it's the right thing to do.
It's the right solution for the consumer.
Usually if you aim at the best solution for the consumer,
you'll win longterm.
Second, we have seen experimentally that increases
in engagement with app.
That more people they wake up.
They use the app more often.
And if more people are opening our app more often,
then there will be business down the road.
We'll be able to monetize that one way or the other.
- [Andrew] Of course, Lyft offers a lot of the same things
in its app.
And Uber's a lot bigger than Lyft and operates in cities
outside of the US, but in the US drivers work for both apps.
And sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference
between both apps.
Now Uber used to say it wanted to compete
with public transportation, but now it's changing
its tune and says it wants to compliment,
not kill transit.
But it's not so simple.
There have been a number of studies over the years
that show that Uber has been leading to a decrease
in ridership on public transportation.
And that can lead to things like lossed revenue
and service cuts.
Now Uber can say it wants to put public transportation
on an equal footing with Uber X and that could help shift
more customers to buses and trains.
Or it could have the opposite effect
and accelerate the decline of public transportation.
- Ultimately whether or not our users choose transit
or rides, et cetera, I can't predict.
You know, transit has competition anyway, but we
with data, we wanna make sure that transit data
is available to all the users and we think we can be a
constructive part of transit growing over a long period
of time.
We wanna integrate ticketing.
Right now we only have information, but over a period
of time, we'll integrate ticketing.
So that the experience that you can have taking transit
is just as delightful as the experience that you can have
taking a ride as well.
- Now there's more to the app than just
public transportation.
Uber's adding new firewalls to help improve safety
and regain people's trust.
Now there's a new pin verification system that riders
can opt into, so they don't accidentally get
into the wrong car.
You can text 911 from in the app, in case you need
emergency services.
And your phone will get a notification if you get dropped
off near a bike lane, so you don't accidentally
door someone.
Now Uber is in the news a lot these days for reasons
entirely separate from its app.
The company lost $5 billion last quarter, which is a record
for the chronically unprofitable company.
Cities are being overrun with car congestion
and Uber is partly to blame.
And California is on the cusp of forcing Uber
to reclassify its drivers as employees, rather than
contractors, which could blow up the company's entire
business model.
Meanwhile, Uber sued New York City for the second time
this year over new rules and restrictions on ride hailing.
Cities and states across the country are cracking down
on Uber and Democratic presidential candidates,
who are talking tough about the tech industry
and wanting to improve driver's lives are cheering them
on from the sidelines.
- My concern is that the politicians right now are playing
to a reactive base, which ultimately
is not a better solution,
for society and definitely not for our drivers
and not for our riders.
- And Uber is still growing, just a lot slower than people
were expecting.
And the challenges it faces are a lot more existential
than the ones it faced in the past.
There are some who think that Uber will just keep
losing money until it eventually goes out of business.
Now whether Uber becomes the Amazon of transportation
like Khosrowshahi predicts will depend a lot
on how that future turns out.
What does Uber look like in five years, do you think?
- You're gonna use us to get to places.
You're gonna use us to get packages.
You're gonna use us to have your food and I think we
will be seen as an incredibly valuable partner
for cities everywhere.
Is there jaywalking allowed?
- Oh yes.
- Is this like true - Oh yes it's encouraged.
- Is it like true New York or like fake New York?
- It's encouraged.
All right, there we go.
I used to live her so, if I don't jaywalk
(laughs)
I feel weird.
I feel odd.
- Yeah, exactly.
You're not true New Yorker unless you're jaywalking.