Uber (company)
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Formerly called
| UberCab (2009–2011) |
|---|---|
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Transportation Technology |
| Founded | March 2009 |
| Founders | Travis Kalanick Garrett Camp |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, United States |
Area served
| Worldwide, 536+ cities[1] |
Key people
| Travis Kalanick (CEO), Ryan Graves |
| Services | Taxicab, Vehicle for hire |
| Revenue | US$1.5 billion (2015) |
Number of employees
| 6,700[2] |
| Website | uber |
The legality of Uber has been challenged by governments and taxi companies, who allege that its use of drivers who are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal;[9] some taxi driver unions have called Uber drivers "pirate taxis".
Contents
[hide]History[edit]
Further information: Timeline of Uber
Early history[edit]
Uber was founded as UberCab by Garrett Camp, the founder of StumbleUpon, and Travis Kalanick in 2009.[10][11] The company received $200,000 in seed funding that same year.[12][better source needed] In 2010, Uber raised $1.25 million in additional funding.[12][13]
Following a beta launch in the summer of 2010, Uber's services and mobile app officially launched in San Francisco in 2011.[14][15] Initially, Ryan Graves was appointed as CEO, however, Kalanick replaced him in the role later that year.[14][16] Graves stepped down to become the company's COO.[17]
By the end of 2011, Uber had raised $44.5 million in funding.[18][19] That year, the company changed its name from UberCab to Uber.[20] The name "Uber" is a reference to the common (and somewhat slangy) word "uber", meaning "super", and having its origins in the German word über.[21][22]
Additional funding[edit]
On December 12, 2014, TechCrunch reported that the Chinese search engine Baidu, the mainland's largest, is expected to make a significant investment in Uber.[23] The deal, the details of which were not shared with the media, was confirmed on December 17, 2014, following a Beijing meeting involving Kalanick and Baidu chief executive and chairman Robin Lee, who made a commitment to connect the search engine's map and mobile-search features with Uber's app. At the time of the arrangement, Uber existed in eight Chinese mainland cities. Kalanick told the media afterward of an absence of "pressing regulatory issues" for Uber in China.[24][25] In May 2015, Uber revealed plans to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in new funding, raising the value of the company to $50 billion or higher. [26]Google Ventures invested $258 million in 2013.[27] The Chinese search engine Baidu made an investment in Uber in December 2014 in a deal that also involved connecting Uber with Baidu's mapping apps.[23][28] In 2016, Toyota made an undisclosed investment in Uber and looked into leasing options, which could potentially aid Uber drivers financially, a move in response to the other partnerships between Toyota's and Uber's counterparts.[29]
Opposition[edit]
As Uber grew internationally, it also began to experience disputes with governments and taxi companies in those regions. In April 2014, Uber was banned by the government in Berlin, although the company remains active in other German cities. The ban is still being discussed as of December 2014.[30] Taxi drivers in London, Berlin, Paris and Madrid staged a large-scale protest against Uber on June 11, 2014.[31] In March 2015, UberPOOL was offered in Austin, Texas, in anticipation of the South by Southwest festival. As of May 2016, Uber has pulled their Austin program, due to stricter regulations from the government.[32]Self-driving car research[edit]
Also in February 2015, Uber announced a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon to establish the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, a new facility in Pittsburgh meant to support research in the development of self-driving vehicles.[33] Uber announced the first customer trial of autonomous taxis which was to take place by the end of August 2016 in Pittsburgh, but was overtaken by nuTonomy, which launched the first public trial of electric self-driving cabs in Singapore on August 25.[34] Uber launched its first self-driving car services to select customers in Pittsburgh, including Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, on September 14, 2016.[35] Uber has a fleet of Ford Fusion cars each equipped with 20 cameras, seven lasers, GPS, lidar and radar equipment. These enable the car to create a three-dimensional map utilizing landmarks and other contextual information to keep track of its position.[36] They have established an 'Advanced Technology Center' to develop this technology in the Strip District, Pittsburgh.[36]
On December 14, 2016, Uber began using self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs in its hometown of San Francisco.[37] On December 21, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of the 16 vehicles Uber was using for the test. [38]
Partnerships[edit]
In May 2015, Uber launched its UberMilitary Families Coalition, a new project to support its existing UberMilitary initiative.[39] The project seeks to partner Uber with existing military family organizations and hire more military dependents, in addition to veterans, as drivers.[39] In May 2015, Uber updated its app to include accommodations for drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing.[40]In 2015 and 2016, Uber launched partnerships with several transit agencies to encourage trips that connect the first or last mile to public transit. These agencies included SEPTA,[41] Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority,[42] Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority,[43] Dallas Area Rapid Transit,[44] and Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.[45]
Mapping UK city streets[edit]
In September 2016, Uber began mapping UK city streets in an effort to identify the best pick-up and drop-off points. The lift-sharing firm plans to extend its mapping activities to other British cities including Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.[46]Helicopter service[edit]
Also in 2016, the company partnered with Airbus to test an Uber service with helicopters in São Paulo, a city famous for its extreme traffic congestion and for having the largest helicopter fleet of any city in the world. The test, which lasted for one month, was Uber's first helicopter service that was not limited to specific events. Uber has offered helicopter service at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals.[47] In September 2016 Uber has announced that it's researching the possibility of developing small planes capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), so they can be used for short-haul flights in cities.[48]Uber Elevate[edit]
Uber announced on September 25, 2016 that it was looking into urban transportation with flying vehicles. At Re/code's Nantucket Conference, the head of Uber's products, Jeff Holden stated that the company wanted to "someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around ... doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at."A statement at the AHS International-led joint workshop on Transformative Vertical Flight on September 29, Uber product manager Nikhil Goel stated that "To us, urban air transportation is simply a key initiative or our mission, right? Not only because it can cut congestion – it's got massive potential to do that – but it allows us to move people from Point A to B much, much faster than you would otherwise. If you do it in all-electric vehicles, you can do it with zero emissions."
Wired magazine broke the details of Uber's Project Elevate on October 27, 2016 article "Inside Uber's Plan to Take Over the Skies With Flying Cars"
Uberization[edit]
Main article: Uberization
The rise of companies like Uber and GrabCar, and the changes they catalysed have started a discussion over the general transition to peer to peer transactions across industries.[49][50] The parallel rise of platforms such as Netflix, Apple TV, and AirBnB in other industries has led to comparisons with the rise of Uber and debate over whether and to what extent uberisation may displace traditional business models.[51]Software and services[edit]
The Uber app software requires the users and drivers to have a smartphone.
Pricing and payments[edit]
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Yellow Uber car in Moscow, Russia
In May 2015, Uber started testing cash payments in India. The pilot project was started in the Indian city of Hyderabad.[58] In September 2015, Uber tied up with Airtel India to allow cab users to pay using Airtel mobile wallet service. It also allows users to use Airtel 4G data at no charges.[59]
Surge pricing[edit]
Uber uses an automated algorithm to increase prices to "surge" price levels, responding rapidly to changes of supply and demand in the market, and to attract more drivers during times of increased rider demand, but also to reduce demand.[60][61] Customers receive notice when making an Uber reservation that prices have increased.[60] The company applied for a U.S. patent on surge pricing in 2013,[62][63] but it was rejected for being obvious.The practice has often caused passengers to become upset and invited criticism when it has happened as a result of holidays, inclement weather, or natural disasters.[64] During New Year's Eve 2011, prices were as high as seven times normal rates, causing outrage.[65] During the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, Uber implemented surge pricing, resulting in fares of up to four times normal charges; while it defended the surge pricing at first, it later apologized and refunded the surcharges.[66] Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has responded to criticism by saying: "...because this is so new, it's going to take some time for folks to accept it. There's 70 years of conditioning around the fixed price of taxis."[65][67] Uber released a post detailing why surge pricing is in place and how it works.[68] They emphasized that without surge pricing, Uber would not have its trademark service of pushing a button and getting a ride in minutes. This is detailed in a case study around a sold-out-concert at Madison Square Garden when surge pricing took effect. During this event, the number of people who opened the app increased 4x, but the actual ride requests only rose slightly, enabling ride requests to be completed with the usual ETAs.
Surge pricing makes supply and demand match so efficiently that the waiting time is almost always below five minutes, regardless of the circumstances. Surge pricing increases economic efficiency in two ways: 1. rising prices motivate more drivers to start driving, 2. when there are not enough drivers for everyone, the rising prices make only those customers accept a ride whose needs are highest.[69] When a surge in demand in the New Year's Eve did not raise prices, due to a fault in technology, fewer drivers chose to start driving and fewer customers chose alternative transportation methods. Therefore, waiting times became long and just a few lucky customers got a car, most were left without. In terms of efficiency the situation was a failure.[69] Many airline and hotel companies also price dynamically although this is often not clear, whereas Uber makes its pricing transparent.[70]
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