Uber Technologies Inc.

is an American technology company headquartered in San

Francisco, California, United States, operating in 633 cities worldwide. It develops, markets and
operates the Uber car transportation and food delivery mobile apps. Uber drivers use their own
cars[5][6] although drivers can rent a car to drive with Uber.[7]
The name "Uber" is a reference to the common (and somewhat slangy) word "uber", meaning
"topmost" or "super", and having its origins in the German word ber, meaning "above".[8]
Uber has been a pioneer in the sharing economy and the changes in industries as a result of the
sharing economy have been referred to as "Uberification" or "Uberisation".[9][10][11] Uber has also
been the subject of protests and legal actions.

The Uber app software requires the drivers to have a smartphone, and users must have access to
either a smartphone or the mobile website.

In most cities, Uber offers "upfront pricing"; the rider is quoted the fare that he or she will pay before
requesting the ride.[12] In some cities, Uber does not offer upfront pricing and instead calculates the
price of a ride similar to a taximeter; the rider is charged based on the time and distance of the
ride.[13] Uber also offers promotional rates on rides to/from certain areas at certain
times.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] At the end of the ride, payment is made based on the rider's pre-selected
preferences, which could be a credit card on file, cash, or, in certain cities, other methods such as
via Google Wallet or Airtel mobile wallet.[21] After the ride is over, in some cities, the rider is given the
opportunity to provide a gratuity to the driver, which is also billed to the rider's payment method.[22]

Uber fares are based on a dynamic pricing model, in which fares are higher during periods of high
demand for rides. The same route costs different amounts at different times as a result of factors
such as the supply and demand for Uber drivers at the time the ride is requested.[23] When rides are
in high demand in a certain area and there are not enough drivers in such area, Uber fares increase
to get more drivers to that area and to reduce demand for rides in that area.[23] The rate quoted to
the rider will reflect such dynamic pricing.[12]
In 2012, then Uber CEO Travis Kalanick responded to criticism of dynamic pricing by saying: "it's going
to take some time for folks to accept [dynamic pricing]. There's 70 years of conditioning around the
fixed price of taxis."[24][25] Uber has defended this "surge pricing" on its website, arguing that without
dynamic pricing, there would not be enough drivers to enable riders to get a ride immediately upon
request.[26] Uber cited an example of the aftermath of a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden
when pricing was increased. During this event, the number of people who opened the Uber app
increased 400%, but, due to the higher prices, the actual ride requests only rose slightly, enabling
ride requests to be completed within the usual timeframe.
Uber has been criticized for its extreme surcharges during emergencies such as Hurricane
Sandy,[27][28] the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis,[29][30][31] and the June 2017 London Bridge
attack,[32][33][34] especially when taxis offered to transport riders for free; however, in many cases
Uber later refunded surcharges incurred by riders during these events. In 2014, Uber announced that
it would not implement surge pricing during emergencies in the United States.[35][36][37]
Uber offers various service levels. Not all service levels are available in every city. UberPOOL is the
least expensive level of service, in which the customer may share the ride with another passenger
going in the same general direction. UberX (marketed as UberPOP in some European cities) is a level
of service in which the rider will get a private ride. Other levels of service provide for a black luxury
car, larger car, car with a car seat, SUV, wheelchair accessible transport, and pet transport.[38]
UberGo, available in India, provides for a ride in a hatchback.[39]
UberAUTO, available in Pakistan, is an Auto Rickshaws service for riders to travel within the city at
much less cost compared to UberGO and UberX.[40][41]
UberTAXI, which is available in some markets, allows users to summon a taxi using the Uber software
application.[42][43] Users pay an additional booking fee and can leave a gratuity through the
app.[43] The service is designed to appease taxi drivers who protest the increased competition from
Uber.[43]
UberEATS allows users to have meals delivered from participating restaurants by Uber drivers.[44] The
service is available in 71 cities.[45]
UberRUSH is a courier package delivery service available in New York City, San Francisco, and
Chicago.[46][47]
UberBOAT, available in Istanbul, is a water-taxi service that allows users to travel by Beneteau boats
across the Bosporus strait.[48] UberBOAT has also run in other cities during special events such as
across Biscayne Bay during Miami Art Week.[49] In 2017, UberBOAT has been launched in Croatia.[50]
Uber also offers additional services in certain cities during special events. During National Ice Cream
Month, Uber users in certain cities can summon an ice cream van for on-demand delivery, with ice
cream purchases billed to users' accounts.[51][52] On National Cat Day, certain Uber drivers deliver
kittens for 15 minutes of cuddling in exchange for a donation to an animal shelter.[53] In some cities,
during December, Uber offers delivery of Christmas trees.[54]

Uber was founded in 2009 as UberCab by Garrett Camp, the cofounder of StumbleUpon, and Travis
Kalanick, who had sold his Red Swoosh startup for $19 million in 2007.[67][68]
Kalanick joined Camp and gives him "full credit for the idea"[69] of Uber. On New Year's Eve, Camp
spent $800 hiring a private driver with friends and had been mulling over ways to decrease the cost
of black car services ever since. He realized that sharing the cost with people could make it
affordable, and his idea morphed into Uber.[69] "Garrett is the guy who invented that shit," Kalanick
said at an early Uber event in San Francisco.[69] The first prototype was built by Camp, and his friends,
Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan, with Kalanick being brought on as a "mega advisor" to the
company.[69]
Following a beta launch in May 2010, Uber's services and mobile app officially launched in San
Francisco in 2011.[70][71] Originally, the application only allowed users to hail a black luxury car and the
price was 1.5 times that of a taxi.[72]
In February 2010, Ryan Graves became the first Uber employee, getting the job by responding to a
tweet from Kalanick announcing the job opening, and receiving 5-10% of the company. Graves
started out as general manager and shortly after the launch was named as CEO.[73] After ten months
Kalanick succeeded Graves as CEO in December 2010.[69][70][74][75] Graves stepped down to become the
company's COO.[76]
In 2011, the company changed its name from UberCab to Uber.[77]
During the initial development of the Uber app, the company created a think tank consisting of a
nuclear physicist, a computational neuroscientist, and a machinery expert who worked on predicting
demand for private hire car drivers and where demand is highest.[67][78]
In 2015, Kalanick spoke about his desire to eventually move to using self-driving cars for Uber
vehicles.[88] By May 2015, the company had hired many researchers from the roboticsdepartment
of Carnegie Mellon University and established Uber's Advanced Technologies Center
in Pittsburgh's Strip District.[89][90]
On September 14, 2016, Uber launched its first self-driving car services to select customers in
Pittsburgh, including Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto using a fleet of Ford Fusion cars each equipped
with 20 cameras, seven lasers, GPS, lidar and radar equipment that enables the car to create a three-
dimensional map utilizing landmarks and other contextual information to keep track of its
position.[91][92]
On December 14, 2016, Uber began using self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs in its hometown of San
Francisco.[93] On December 21, 2016, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the
registration of the 16 vehicles Uber was using for the test and forced the program to cease
operations in California.[94] Uber then moved the program to Arizona, where the cars are picking up
passengers, albeit with 2 Uber engineers in the front seats as a safety precaution.[95] In March 2017,
an Uber self-driving car was flipped on its side by a vehicle which failed to yield.[96]
n July 2014, Uber partnered with Blade to offer helicopter rides from New York City to The
Hamptons for $3,000 each, including during Independence Day,[97][98][99] in a service called
"UberCHOPPER". In 2016, the company partnered with Airbus for a one-month trial of "UberCopter",
a $63 Uber helicopter service, in So Paulo, a city famous for its extreme traffic
congestion.[100][101] Uber, in partnership with Blade, has also provided helicopter service for specific
events, including the Cannes Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival with flights from Salt Lake City
International Airport to Park City, Utah.[100][102][103]
Uber announced on September 25, 2016, that it was looking into urban transportation with flying
vehicles. At Re/code's Nantucket Conference, the head of Uber's products, Jeff Holden stated that
the company wanted to "someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around
... doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at." A statement at the American
Helicopter Society International-led joint workshop on Transformative Vertical Flight on September
29, Uber product manager Nikhil Goel stated that "To us, urban air transportation is simply a key
initiative or our mission, right? Not only because it can cut congestion it's got massive potential to
do that but it allows us to move people from Point A to B much, much faster than you would
otherwise. If you do it in all-electric vehicles, you can do it with zero emissions." Uber published a 99-
page "white paper" exploring the possibility of developing a "fully electric, vertical-takeoff-and-
landing plane" network (called "Elevate") within ten years, for use in short journeys. Although
technically feasible, the development of such a program is expected to encounter safety and
regulatory obstacles.[104]
The founders invested $200,000 in seed money upon conception in 2009.[122] In 2010, Uber raised
$1.25 million in additional funding.[122][123] By the end of 2011, Uber had raised $44.5 million in
funding.[124][125] In 2013, Google Ventures invested $258 million in the company based on a $3.4
billion pre-money valuation.[126][127] In December 2014, Chinese search engine Baidu made an
investment in Uber of an undisclosed amount.[128] The deal also involved connecting Uber with
Baidu's mapping apps.[128][129] In January 2015, Uber raised $1.6 billion in convertible debt.[130] In May
2015, Uber revealed plans to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in new funding, raising the
value of the company to $50 billion or higher.[131] In September that year, Uber raised another $1.2
billion, led by another investment by Baidu.[132]
In 2016, Toyota made an undisclosed investment in Uber and looked into leasing options, which
could potentially aid Uber drivers financially, a move in response to the other partnerships between
Toyota's and Uber's counterparts.[133][134] In June 2016, with plans to expand in the Middle East, Uber
received $3.5 billion from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.[135] In July that same year,
Uber raised $1.15 billion in debt financing.[136] In August, Uber agreed to sell its subsidiary company,
Uber China, to China's leading taxi-hailing app Didi Chuxing. Didi also agreed to invest $1 billion into
Uber Global.[137] In total, Uber has raised about $11.5 billion from 14 rounds of venture capital and
private equity investors.[138]