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kyokpae

> reduced drunk driving rates by 1/3

Hardly true: http://fortune.com/2016/07/28/uber-drunk-driving-study/

> enabled nearly 200K drivers to become entrepreneurs

Going self-employed doesn't make you an entrepreneur.

> provided a valuable service to millions of customers

Looks like true: http://fortune.com/2016/10/20/uber-app-riders/

> accelerated the shift to self driving car

Not true. Uber's entered the game very late and since then lagged behind most of the competitors in this space: http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-companies-most-likely-to-g...

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Let's not forget that, however you frame it, he might have done all that by exploiting the worst traits of digital capitalism. I.e. they found the cleverest way to keep the revenue flowing (and maybe profits, one day) while getting rid of those pesky liabilities called means of production, all with appalling levels of capital concentration and lack of redistribution. Kalanick might be out, but UBER now is hardly less monstrous as a company.

I think that apart the "less drunk drivers", "entrepreneurs", and all that fandom talk, Uber went ahead to bump heads with one of the most "exclusive" professions (taxi drivers are the favorite voters for any government), and managed to carve out a portion of their business, out-of-nowhere.

It's like, me starting a soft-drink company and, take on Coca & Pepsi and carve out 10% of their sales globally within 5 years.

They, of course, achieved this "by hook or by crook" but hey you need a ruthless team to succeed this.

Business-wise, a job well done.

Sexism, rape, stealing, avoiding taxes, etc... a big fat NO - thou shall not pass.

Rape? When did that happen?

Probably a reference to the lackluster background checks performed by Uber et al.

Closest aggregator of data I found seems to have a very anti-ride-sharing view ("We are an initiative of the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association"), but here it is nonetheless: http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents

What are the numbers for Cab Drivers? They should've listed that. I'm always skeptical of people pointing out the dirt of their competition when they have their own dirt to deal with.

India is the one I remember widely reported - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40296994

This case had an even worse history than I thought though:

Uber had investigated the complaint, obtained her medical records and speculated that she made up the claims to hurt the firm's business.

So Uber also steal peoples medical records, and only fired the guy who instigated that after it became a news story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40196055

I remember at least 2 cases from US.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/04/25/boston-uber-dri...

http://nypost.com/2017/05/10/uber-driver-accused-of-kidnappi...

This has a list of sexual assaults (both Uber & Lyft): http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents#sexualassa...

Good to see some acknowledgement for what Travis and his team has done in our daily life. It's something not all digital startups could do. Of course, their ops could have had more empathetic approach than their current one, nevertheless, Uber changed the way we commute - forever and Travis deserves some praise for it!

But it is burning money by the boat load and perhaps this now means UBER can attract investors who may have been put off by Kalanick and||or UBER's culture. However these are likely to be more conservative investors and on that basis may not like the underlying financials any way.

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