Why can’t uber just position itself as a lead generation service for drivers?
A rideshare company could theoretically be just a pure lead generation platform but the economic forces preventing that is the nature of multi-sided platforms: The drivers don't hold all the leverage. The other actor in the multi-sided platform are passengers/customers who _pay the money_.
If Uber was only lead gen, they would be outcompeted by another company that offered all the following conveniences:
+ predictable fixed price to prevent customer anxiety of overcharging
+ integrated payment processing so no worry of drivers playing games such as, "my Square credit card processor doesn't work so you need to pay cash"
+ driver ratings for reputation
... because customers/passengers value those features.
If you create a rideshare platform that's too advantageous to the drivers (e.g. no ratings, can charge variable fare per mile, etc), it would end up being hostile to potential customers and it won't attract enough paying fares to be financially sustainable.
Or that those services couldn't still be offered by independent companies, so the customer still has them but the drivers are still contractors because they're not employees of the lead gen company nor the driver ratings company nor the payment app company. It merely so happens that the lead gen company shows the customer whether the driver accepts that payment app and is listed with that rating service.
To their drivers? They are a shittier taxi company that doesn't provide cars, yet still charges drivers 25% of fares in exchange for legal protection against taxi laws and customers/brand.
Taxi driving contractors have less autonomy than uber drivers, but you don't see Cali prosecutors going after taxi companies.
What these changes amount to is removing qualification from the leads, which to me seems like the sort of anti-consumer outcome the law should not produce.
But arguably, that was because Uber/Lyft had an unfair advantage from being able to exercise tight control over drivers while not having to obey regulations for employees, while Sidecar had more limited control over drivers. If everyone had to use the Sidecar model, it might work out, but you need equitable laws (that apply to everyone) to make that work.