Uber Newsroom

The recommendations weren't leaked. It was made publicly available by Uber. It is even on their website: https://newsroom.uber.com/covington-recommendations/

You need to directly link to this because this apology does not actually show up on https://newsroom.uber.com/ . http://i.imgur.com/9fiFNJx.png

Right, and on Sunday he followed up by unambiguously calling the ban "wrong and unjust".[1] Which was also a fumble because it sounded like a reaction to the blowback. Also interesting: Uber pledged $3M to help drivers right now. Lyft pledged just $250K/year.. to the ACLU (annual budget: $133M). But Uber lost that one too. People want war with Trump, not diplomacy. As for turning off surge pricing, clearly it was after the strike and meant to reduce customer complaints about surge pricing after exceptional events. But it also means they were "effectively undercutting taxi drivers as they returned to work after protesting."[2] Another "Doh!" moment for Uber. [1] https://newsroom.uber.com/standing-up-for-the-driver-community/ [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/01/lyft-and-ubers-im…

I liked this when Uber did it last September. https://newsroom.uber.com/ubercommute/ it's great to see Lyft picking up from a great idea.

I seem to have struck a nerve :-) For what its worth a while ago Uber had a story on their site about lemonade (https://newsroom.uber.com/uberstand-exposed/) which got me thinking at the time how that might actually work. And the idea sort of popped out. I take no credit for connecting Uber and Lemonade into a startup idea, only for their go to market plan :-) Happy Friday everyone.

The explicit inspiration for Uber's founding was as a "limo timeshare service": http://newsroom.uber.com/2010/12/ubers-founding/ I"m glad that some people are also getting easier taxi service. But having worked in in SF since the last bubble, there is definitely an intense focus here on solving rich-people problems; when they serve others (e.g., struggling felons and young military personnel) it is often, at best, a side effect.

Fair points but let me add a few things to consider as well: "Uber operating at huge losses... service worse and worse." I don't agree here, the service is much better than before. Even with the introduction of uberpool, the service has stayed nearly the same for me in NY, and especially here in SF, while the cost has cut over 50% or more. If you follow Uber closely you can see they're investing into the company to continue to grow. You can see them experimenting with new products and services. UberEATS [1] (leveraging the same tech and driver network), San Francisco flat rate subscriptions [2], and self-driving cars [3]. Lyft and other competitors are followers at this point and are trying to compete by burning capital on huge ad-buys. Uber is significantly ahead. "No longer door to door." This is to better connect both parties in the pickup and drop off. I've been using this non-stop in SF, it's more efficient and safe for the rider. It's also safer for the driver and helps them avoid getting tickets that ruin a driver's week. "Feeling like a baller." There are still other products for these if you want privacy and better service. If your driver isn't giving you the expected service you can rate them accordingly. "General quality has been declining." This shouldn't be the case. Uber has strict vehicle requirements in all cities that drivers must follow. Uber also connect drivers to fleet partners, rental partners and new and pre-owned vehicles during the signup…

> Do more drivers lead to shorter pick-up times or more drivers without a passenger. That's an interesting question. I think in this case it's shorter pick-up times because the system can somewhat self-correct in real-time: 1) If a someone is thinking about going out and driving, they check the app, see that there are lots of drivers out and not many passengers, so they might decide not to go out at that moment. 2) If there are too many requests and not enough drivers, Uber increases surge pricing. The greater the increase, the more drivers come out and the more requests get withdrawn until an equilibrium is reestablished. Finally, there's some data at https://newsroom.uber.com/uber-expectations-as-we-grow/ that shows that the longer Uber is in a city, the more pick-up times drop and passengers expect shorter pick-up times. I agree with you about food companies: at some point they might become competitive with Uber, or they might outsource logistics to Uber while they handle the food ordering and preparation aspects.

UberKittens used to do cat deliveries (15min IIRC) in NYC some years back as one-day promos. https://newsroom.uber.com/uberkittens-are-back/ It was such a ridiculously awesome service I wish they had it year-round. Our office ordered bunches of the service and there was a lot more demand than supply (obviously for that one day they offered it.)

Uber sort of already experimented a reward system, but limited to customers who own Captial One credit card, at least in my experience. See [1]. They stopped this but it was not a bad reward system when I was consistently using Uber for a while. 1: https://newsroom.uber.com/payment-rewards/

Some cities (Paris off the top of my head) have "UberGreen" which is exactly this - You can elect to only take rides from hybrid or electric vehicles. https://newsroom.uber.com/portugal/ubergreenen/

Not sure if they are still doing this "POOL Pass" thing but possibly. https://newsroom.uber.com/us-massachusetts/july-pool-pass-ride-for-a-p…

Since Uber is already in there [1], Google just needs to push out an app update that swaps the copy to "Waymo". Boom. A string change, and Uber's business model goes poof. Was mighty kind of Uber and its investors to prove out the business model for Google. [1] https://newsroom.uber.com/googlemaps/

https://newsroom.uber.com/updated-cancellation-policy/ It looks like you get charged $10 for canceling now, after 5 minutes of having a driver assigned.

You can already pay for Uber rides with commuter benefit cards. https://newsroom.uber.com/poolcommutes/

Uber | Transportation & Software | San Francisco, CA | Onsite At Uber, we're building the future of transportation. My team is hiring two senior, standalone mobile engineers (iOS, Android) for Uber Beacon (https://newsroom.uber.com/beacon/) a BLE hardware device that functions together with the rider and driver apps. The ideal applicant would have extensive consumer-facing mobile experience, as well as experience with Bluetooth-enabled devices. Unfortunately this position is only for senior engineers with at least 2-4 years of experience. I'm also looking for a PM for Uber Elevate (http://www.uber.com/elevate), our initiative to accelerate the future of urban, on-demand air transportation. Please email me directly at [email protected] if interested, with a PDF copy of your resume.

There is no evidence of Uber being better or worse than the others, but they are ahead in terms of using self driving cars as taxis. https://newsroom.uber.com/san-francisco-your-self-driving-uber-is-arri… https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/16/uber-self-driving-c…

Supposedly, they leverage machine learning across those areas as well...perhaps not as the primary foundation, but used there nonetheless. http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/02/uber-is-rolling-out-a-big-redesign-p… https://newsroom.uber.com/inferring-uber-rider-destinations/ There's other references, but you get the idea.

We don't know if it's different or not. It may well be the same. But Tesla has a permit [1] and Uber couldn't be bothered to apply for one even after receiving a warning from the DMV. This is after Uber publicly announcing that they were testing self driving technology [2]. [1] https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/testing [2] https://newsroom.uber.com/san-francisco-your-self-driving-uber-is-arri…

If they thought they were violating regulations, that would be true. But their official stance is that they are not violating regulations, so his point is totally valid. Official statement: https://newsroom.uber.com/statement-from-anthony-levandowski-on-self-d…

Funny , because they say "self driving" on their own website: https://newsroom.uber.com/san-francisco-your-self-driving-uber-is-arri…

These are permits for Autonomous vehicles. Uber couldn't legitimately abide by a permit as they would need to confirm that the "autonomous vehicle is operated for testing purposes only"... and they want to use it as part of their business model straight away. Without looking into the specific legislation, on the surface it looks like a reasonable interpretation. All of the references from Uber state they are doing "self-driving".. which isn't IMHO Autonomous, as it is only Level 3. https://newsroom.uber.com/pittsburgh-self-driving-uber/ I'd expect Uber to obtain a license when they are ready to move towards driverless autonomous development, such as Level 4/5.

Uber tried this in Toronto already (called Uber Hop). I believe they had to stop as it is illegal to compete with the municipal bus system eyeroll. https://newsroom.uber.com/canada/meet-uberhop/

Uber has implemented a pause button [1]. [1] https://newsroom.uber.com/behind-the-wheel/

I think he's referring to the idea that you'll use an Uber-like app (either Uber or if Tesla builds their own then the Tesla version) to order an EV to use it's self driving AI to come pick you up, take you to your destination, then drive off to service other customers. https://newsroom.uber.com/pittsburgh-self-driving-uber/

I don't know if this might be more help: https://newsroom.uber.com/rethinking-transportation/

Uber in New Zealand offers uberASSIST: https://newsroom.uber.com/new-zealand/uberassistnz/ Not sure if that's out of the kindness of their hearts, or because they've been made to do it by the govt.

I'd also like unicorns towing magic carpets and appreciate the sarcasm, self driving cars are not the 'unicorn' anymore. Uber is actively investing in prepping for a self-driving world.[0][1] https://newsroom.uber.com/mapping-ubers-future/ http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/31/12338268/uber-maps-investment-500-mi…

They did that years ago: https://newsroom.uber.com/insurance-for-uberx-with-ridesharing/

https://newsroom.uber.com/uber-china-didi/ Doesn't say much more than what's covered in the Bloomberg article.