Since its 2008 founding, Uber has raised $8.8B to fund its goal of global domination of the private transportation industry.
Its rapid expansion and unique business model has raised legal concerns about its activity with authorities around the world.
In response, Uber made “Greyball,” a secret tool to identify and evade law enforcement officials investigating the company.
The NY Times unearthed several of the questionable techniques Uber used to flag users as undercover authorities...
...such as creating “geofences” around government offices and looking for frequent app opening indicative of monitoring...
...searching for credit cards tied to police credit unions, tracking device numbers of cheap mobile phones often used by police...
...and even going so far as to have Uber employees stalk social media profiles to determine links to law enforcement.
Once flagged – or “greyballed” – officials were shown a fake version of the app with “ghost cars”...
...blocking them from hailing Ubers and preventing any potential inspections or oversight required of other taxi services...
In January 2016, Anthony Levandowski left Waymo, Google’s self-driving-car project, to found Otto, an autonomous trucking startup.
Six months later, Uber acquired Otto and its technology for $680 million, a suspicious sum for such a young company.
Soon after, Waymo was accidentally copied on a confidential email that included plans for Uber’s LiDAR laser circuit board.
The LiDAR laser system, which allows cars to map the surrounding environment, bore a “striking resemblance” to Waymo’s design.
In a lawsuit against Uber and Otto, Waymo claims that Levandowski stole “over 14,000 highly confidential design files.”
A former Google engineer further alleges that Levandowski told him he planned to “replicate” Waymo’s LiDAR technology...
...and that Levandowski met Uber executives months before he left Waymo, raising questions of Uber’s knowledge of the scheme.
Some analysts believe a verdict against Uber could ruin its rumored plans to automate drivers and could destroy the company...
In August 2014, The Verge publicized Uber’s alleged playbook for sabotaging its biggest competitor, Lyft.
Called Operation SLOG – Supplying Long Term Operations Growth – Uber sent its “Brand Ambassadors” out to recruit Lyft drivers.
Armed with multiple iPhones and credit cards paid for by Uber, the playbook outlined the process of creating several Lyft accounts...
...including hailing Lyft rides and manipulating conversations with drivers to convince them to switch to Uber.
Lyft driver profiles were posted in a private chat to keep others from contacting the same driver and alerting Lyft.
Lyft also alleges that Uber employees ordered and cancelled more than 5,000 Lyft rides to deny Lyft drivers income.
In an email, an Uber Manager described the program with #ShaveTheStache, a reference to the pink mustaches affixed to Lyft vehicles...
A NY Times investigation recently uncovered a program of psychological manipulation that Uber uses to control its fleet.
The company’s goal may be to “hack” driver behavior to circumvent the independent contractor status of Uber drivers.
One trick described was “forward dispatch” that sends new rides to drivers to prevent them from ending their shifts...
...while another offers mostly meaningless digital achievement badges to “gamify” good customer service without paying bonuses.
Many drivers will also choose only to work during busy times and will log off when demand slumps to maximize hourly earnings...
...but Uber has found it can coax drivers into staying on the road with earning goals, even though it reduces their hourly wage.
Some male Uber managers have even adopted female personas to contact male drivers, finding them more likely to respond.
Rather than helping drivers, critics allege that most of these psychological tricks seem aimed at maximizing Uber’s revenue...
In January 2017, thousands gathered at New York’s JFK Airport to protest a new ban on travelers from Muslim countries...
...and in a show of solidarity with the demonstrators, New York City taxi drivers announced a one hour work stoppage.
Uber, however, lowered prices at nearly the same time and was inadvertently perceived as breaking the strike and supporting the ban.
In the confusion that followed, #DeleteUber went viral and resulted in 200,000 customers deleting Uber in the first weekend.
The incident seemed to be a tipping point for further scandals after a string of many “surge pricing” controversies...
...in which Uber has been accused of jacking up prices during natural disasters and terror-related disturbances.
In February 2017, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a bombshell blog post about sexual harassment in the company...
...and more reports have also surfaced, including one of the CEO taking employees to an “escort” karaoke bar on a company trip.
Several high profile Uber employees have since mysteriously left as the #DeleteUber campaign has supposedly reached 500,000...