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Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates in approximately 70 countries and 10,500 cities worldwide. It is the largest ridesharing company worldwide with over 150 million monthly active users and 6 million active drivers and couriers. It facilitates an average of 28 million trips per day and has facilitated 47 billion trips since its inception in 2010. In 2023, the company had a take rate (revenue as a percentage of gross bookings) of 28.7% for mobility services and 18.3% for food delivery.
Uber classifies its drivers as gig workers or independent contractors, which has drawn criticism and legal challenges because it allows the company to withhold worker protections that it would have been required to provide to employees. Studies have shown that, especially in cities where it competes with public transport, Uber contributes to traffic congestion, reduces public transport use, has no substantial impact on vehicle ownership, and increases automobile dependency. Other controversies involving Uber include various unethical practices such as aggressive lobbying and ignoring/evading local regulations. Some of these conducts were revealed by a leak of documents showing controversial activity between 2013 and 2017 under the leadership of Travis Kalanick. (Full article...)