Speaker 1: The car service company Uber suffered panic on the streets
Speaker 1: of London after the city revoked its license. I'm Jonathan
Speaker 1: Strickland and this is tech stuff. Dating. On Friday, September two,
Speaker 1: London City officials rejected Uber's application for a new license
Speaker 1: to operate as a private car hire company. What's going on?
Speaker 1: Travis Kalinnik and Garrett Camp founded Uber in two thousand
Speaker 1: nine after they had experienced a frustrating evening of trying
Speaker 1: to hail a cab in Paris. Their solution was to
Speaker 1: create a business in which customers use an app to
Speaker 1: signal the need for a ride. Uber employees would have
Speaker 1: their own version of this software that would identify potential passengers.
Speaker 1: Everything would be matched up nice and neat. Drivers would
Speaker 1: receive a percentage of the fares they earned, and the
Speaker 1: rest would go to the company. Even if that were
Speaker 1: all there were to the Uber story, we would still
Speaker 1: call the company disruptive. There are complicated agreements between governments
Speaker 1: and car hire services that exist to regulate the industry
Speaker 1: and make sure both customers and companies get a fair shake.
Speaker 1: Uber and services like it tend to upset the delicate
Speaker 1: bureaucratic balance, but there are further complications when it comes
Speaker 1: to Uber. The company's history includes issues that range from
Speaker 1: problematic to deeply troubling. In seventeen alone, the company has
Speaker 1: experienced several high profile crises. On February nineteen, former Uber
Speaker 1: employees Susan Fowler wrote a blog post that alled she
Speaker 1: had been sexually harassed while working for Uber, and that
Speaker 1: the company had an overall permissive attitude toward that sort
Speaker 1: of behavior, going so far as to refuse to hold
Speaker 1: one harassing manager accountable because he was quote a high
Speaker 1: performer end quote. She also said there was a blatant
Speaker 1: gender bias in the company. CEO Travis Kalanick said the
Speaker 1: company would immediately investigate the claims, hiring Eric Holder, the
Speaker 1: former Attorney General of the United States, to lead the investigation.
Speaker 1: Just a few days later, on February twenty seventeen, The
Speaker 1: New York Times published a piece that included accounts from
Speaker 1: several other Uber employees that detailed instances of harassment. The
Speaker 1: piece also said that during a corporate retreat, employees engaged
Speaker 1: in recreational drug use. The very next day, Google filed
Speaker 1: a lawsuit against Uber, claiming the company had stolen technology
Speaker 1: relating to self driving vehicles, and two of Uber's major
Speaker 1: investors sent an open letter to fellow investors in the
Speaker 1: Board of directors claiming that Uber had been ignoring their
Speaker 1: efforts to change company culture for years. February seen would
Speaker 1: contain more problems for the company, including an embarrassing dash
Speaker 1: cam video of CEO Kalanik arguing with an Uber driver
Speaker 1: about the decrease and fair amounts which directly impacts driver's incomes.
Speaker 1: In March, the company had to deal with a new
Speaker 1: string of controversies. A report revealed that Uber software included
Speaker 1: a tool called gray Ball. The purpose of this tool
Speaker 1: is to identify people using Uber who are, according to
Speaker 1: the company quote, violating our terms of service, whether that's
Speaker 1: people aiming to physically harm drivers, competitors looking to disrupt
Speaker 1: our operations, or opponents who colluded with officials on secret
Speaker 1: stings meant to entrap drivers end quote. The report alleged
Speaker 1: that Uber was using this tool in order to circumvent
Speaker 1: authorities in cities where Uber had not received official license
Speaker 1: to operate or in ones where the company had been
Speaker 1: outright banned. On June one, two thousand seventeen, Travis Kalenik
Speaker 1: resigned as CEO, a move prompted by pressure from the
Speaker 1: company's worried investors. Kalen Nick had a hand in selecting
Speaker 1: his replacement, former Expedis CEO Dara Kasro Shauhi. Meanwhile, the
Speaker 1: company Benchmark, a major investor in Uber, brought legal charges
Speaker 1: against Kalina, claiming he had committed fraud and that he
Speaker 1: was using his remaining power with the company to fill
Speaker 1: the board of directors with his own supporters. As for
Speaker 1: the recent bruhaha in London, according to city officials, the
Speaker 1: decision to deny the license renewal was made because Uber's
Speaker 1: approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility. By that,
Speaker 1: the city officials mean that Uber has a long history
Speaker 1: of failing to report criminal offenses or perform extensive background
Speaker 1: checks on drivers, and if you look into Uber's past
Speaker 1: even further, you'll see numerous news reports detailing the various
Speaker 1: incidents that seemed to back up this assertion. London officials
Speaker 1: also noted that the gray ball tool, which effectively hides
Speaker 1: Uber driver activity from city authorities, wasn't cricket in their eyes.
Speaker 1: London Mayor City Kahn said all companies in London must
Speaker 1: play by the rules and adhere to the high standards
Speaker 1: we expect, particularly when it comes to the safety of customers.
Speaker 1: Providing an innovative service must not be at the expense
Speaker 1: of customers safety and security. This news likely delighted the
Speaker 1: Black Cab Company, the historic car hire service in London,
Speaker 1: with drivers that must pass an infamously difficult test called
Speaker 1: the Knowledge Rather than relying on satellite navigation, a London
Speaker 1: cabby must be able to find the shortest, fastest route
Speaker 1: from one point to another simply through knowledge alone. In
Speaker 1: an area as massive as the Greater London Metropolitan Area,
Speaker 1: this is no small task. As for Uber, the company
Speaker 1: has the chance to appeal this decision, but even if
Speaker 1: London officials reverse their stance, it's clear that Uber has
Speaker 1: a lot of house cleaning left to do. The company's
Speaker 1: reputation has suffered enormously in with investor and customer confidence dropping.
Speaker 1: As a result, Uber employee morale hasn't fared much better.
Speaker 1: It could be that Uber will one day be held
Speaker 1: up as an example of how an enormously successful company
Speaker 1: can come undone without the right people and policies in
Speaker 1: place to protect employees and customers alike. To learn more
Speaker 1: about companies like uberb and the tech that lets them operate,
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to the podcast Tech Stuff. In
Speaker 1: every episode, I do a deep dive on the tech
Speaker 1: that makes our world. Tip or be or whatever. That's
Speaker 1: all from me for now, See you next time.