There's been a lot of stories lately putting Uber in a bad light. It makes me wonder if it's not their competition who is behind it. Taxi industry lobby perhaps?
It's also worth noting that Google also has a sizable stake in Uber via their investment arm, Google Ventures.
1. https://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-...
Accusing Google of the recent spate of bad PR is bizarre to me. There are plenty of players that have a much higher vested interest in dooming Uber than Google.