Rideshare Review: April

Another month has passed in the rideshare world, and already so much has changed. Here are some of the highlights of what is currently happening in the industry and some things we may expect to see in the future from companies like Uber and Lyft!

Uber is not ahead of the self-driving car race.

Uber has been growing their self-driving car fleet, along with a list of other companies including Apple, Waymo, and General Motors. However, Uber is not in the front of this ­self-driving car race. Uber’s data shows their autonomous vehicles disengage once every mile, when they then require human intervention. In comparison, Waymo’s self-driving car only disengages every 5,000 miles. The lawsuit between Waymo and Uber is still underway, but this month we learned that Uber has a long way to go before they compare to their competition.

A former Uber employee committeed suicide.

An Uber engineer recently committed suicide, and his family is blaming the company’s cut-throat culture and environment for his increased stress levels. Joseph Thomas became a software engineer at Uber 6 months ago, and since then his family has noticed a difference in the way he had been acting. Thomas’ personality completely changed and he started to lose confidence in himself, which ultimately led to his attempted suicide and death. The lawsuit is still in progress, but the family may receive about $722,000 from the lawsuit, part in lump sum and part in weekly checks until his children turn 18.

Uber updated privacy and control settings.

Users can now control how much information Uber has access to on their account through customizing their settings. This is atypical for Uber, but perhaps a response to the many criticisms of the company in the news recently. Previously, Uber required all users of the application to release their location information, even after they stopped using the application. Along with these new settings, Uber is releasing information to explain each control in the system and to be transparent in letting users know how their information is being used. This is one of the most promising things we’ve heard about Uber in a while. 

All "Hell" broke loose with Uber's tracking of other drivers.

Uber’s program, “Hell”, that was used to track users through their iPhone has been the talk of the town this past month. Not only is Uber being sued by Apple for using their technology to track consumers, but rideshare competitor Lyft is claiming that Uber tracked and built profiles on drivers from the competing service. This program allowed Uber keeps tabs on Lyft so the company could maintain an edge over its rival, and entice Lyft drivers to join Uber instead. This event could have serious legal repercussions for Uber.

Uber harassment charges are currently under investigation.

In February, Uber was hit with large sexual harassment charges when a former employee spoke out about the discrimination she faced as a women working at Uber. The news went viral, and people started speaking out about their experiences at the company. This month Uber announced an internal investigation into the sexual harassment claims made, and a report is expected to be released sometime in May. Based on the findings in the report, the company may take steps to improve the internal structures that allowed the harasment to occur, as well as tracking the diversity efforts.

Another eventful month passed in the rideshare world, with Uber at the forefront of the majority of the stories. We are curious to see how the company will strive to salvage their reputation for consumers. The attitudes towards Uber as a company are overwhelmingly negative, and it will be interesting to see how the company tries to repatch relationships and create a better image for themselves.