The taxi-hailing app is considered both brilliant and controversial, depending on who you ask. Here we’ve documented the company’s journey to a $70 billion valuation.
Disclaimer: it’s been a bit of a bumpy one…
Uber launches new safety features for UK passengers and drivers
17th October 2018
Uber has announced a new Safety Toolkit for both riders and drivers in the UK as part of the company’s efforts to build trust with customers.
Features include an emergency button thats connect directly to private emergency services and security response through a third party private security supplier, a list of trusted contacts that can get the rider’s information in a single tap, a safety centre containing information of safety tools in the app, and speed alerts that reminds drivers to maintain a safe speed within the posted speed limits.
The new features are already used in the United States and will now be rolled out in phases across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Uber pays $148 million over data breach cover up
27th September 2018
Uber has yet again found itself at the centre of a storm of allegations of foul play, as it comes to light that the firm suffered a staggering data breach involving the information of 57 million customers and drivers in 2016, yet failed to disclose information about the event. Instead the company quietly paid the hackers in question a paltry $100,000 (come on lads, you do know they’re valued at $50 billion?) to wipe the information gleaned from the company’s cloud servers. Afterwards, they sought to hide the mess from regulators.
They are now paying a far heftier $148m (£113m) to settle charges brought by the US government and 50 states over the cover-up.
The company revealed some information about the attack in November 2017, with Uber’s boss Dara Khosrowshahi, saying weakly: “None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it.”
Legal action brought by individual customers, drivers and cities continue. Going forward, the company will have to submit reports on all security incidents to regulators. They have also pledged to change how they operate, although the flagrant disregard for the law and pointed lack of respect towards their customers and workers will again underline for many the firm’s toxic reputation.
Toyota invests $500 million into Uber for autonomous vehicles
28 August 2018
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