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I couldn't find this link anywhere in the actual article Slashdot linked to or the summary - the blog post laying out what Go-Explore is in more detail:

http://eng.uber.com/go-explore/

At least I can pay good, old-fashioned, cash for a taxi and not have my CC info, email, name, and other ID info in a database for eternity.

From Uber's FAQ:

Apple Pay can be added to your Uber account as a payment method. With an Apple Pay account, you can also request and pay for trips without having an Uber account. Apple Pay is a subscription-based service currently only available in the United States. ... Select PAYMENT in your app menu and tap Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is like a one time CC, they don't have any of my CC info.

Nah... I bet it was this:

https://eng.uber.com/schemales...

Hmmmm.... so turns out that using a home-rolled frankendatabase, derived from a toy RDBMS, for business critical billing data wasn't that great an idea. Once again - who knew?!

Ran across a YouTube channel where a driver in a mid-sized U.S. city has been surreptitiously recording passengers and posting on a (presumably monetized) channel. Driver uberBeardedman616 is even so bold as to include his driver referral link.

You're probably thinking of the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is referred to in the Uber contract's arbitration clause.
https://www.uber.com/legal/ter...

Can anyone explain how arbitration clauses work? How can a company limit an employee's rights to proceed legally against a company in case of criminal conduct? There are rules for arbitration clauses and a federal law. There are some rights that just cannot be signed away, and matters involving serious crimes (such as assault) in one of them.
  I suspect that when Uber's lawyers took a look at the situation, they knew the courts would not support mandatory arbitration for victims of rape and assault, so

That doesn't seem to make sense?

This isn't about employees. It is some passengers who have been assaulted and/or raped that think criminal actions by Uber drivers should not be restricted to mandatory arbitration.

Here is Uber's arbitration clause. Have you ever used Uber? If so then you agreed to this.
https://www.uber.com/legal/ter...

A company can put anything into a contract, but courts shoot down unenforceable or unconscionable clauses all the time.
I suspect that when Uber's lawyers realized that trying to enforce mandatory arbitration for assault would get shot down by the courts, and rather than get shot down, and get very bad press, they "generously" gave in on sexual harassment and assault.

...or due to changes made in wake of the Google-Uber lawsuit settlement. But the questions probably need to be asked, in light of statements made by both companies: 1. A note on our lawsuit against Otto and Uber: "Recently, we uncovered evidence that Otto and Uber have taken and are using key parts of Waymo's self-driving technology." 2. Uber and Waymo Reach Settlement: "We are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work."

If they don't have the private hire licence and private hire insurance, they are operating illegally. Uber recognises this because their prerequisites for driving for them in the UK include having the licence and the insurance.

https://www.uber.com/en-GB/dri...

Steps to becoming a NYC taxi driver:
Step 1: the basic requirements. New York City Taxi Driver licenses are issued by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). ...
Step 2: prepare the paperwork. ...
Step 3: your finances. ...
Step 4: the training. ...
Step 5: the application. ...
Step 6: the drug test.
http://www.drivers.com/article...
Steps to becoming an Uber driver..... download an app....
Minimum requirements
Anybody can drive with Uber, although there are a few minimum requirements:
https://www.uber.com/drive/req...

So, ya, basically the same thing...NOT.

According to the Law in the U.K., Uber is a Ride-Hail company.

again i refer you to this. https://www.uber.com/en-GB/dri...
this shows that to drive with them in Scotland you need a private hire license. the car also needs to pass a "private hire MOT" which checks for hygiene ,mechanical soundness, safety and cosmetic condition. While it might be a "ride hailing service" under English law, it certainly isn't in Scotland.
English law != UK law

Legally it's not.

Here in the UK, taxi driving and private-hire driving both require a special driving licence, with a background-check. Uber drivers don't have these.

Sorry you are wrong.. In Scotland you MUST have at least a private hire license and be in a car that has passed the "private hire MOT" which not only tests the vehicles mechanical soundness but also safety, hygiene, cosmetic condition. and drivers have to get checks to gain their license too.
https://www.uber.com/en-GB/dri... note how they will assist you to get your private hire license for Edinburgh where I am.
So legally ,YES IT IS a taxi service in Scotland. English law does not apply in Scotland!

Uber rolled out Uber WAV 2 years back that allows you to use their app to connect with Taxi companies that offer wheel chair service.

https://www.uber.com/blog/wash...

Yes, the driver's own ordinary insurance does not generally cover people they're carrying for hire.

The insurance that Uber has obtained for its drivers when "onlne" does.

https://www.uber.com/drive/ins...

Do you know there is a taxi service at IAD? It'll cost you about $80 to get into DC from there. Comparerd to UberX at $42-56 and UberXL at $71-94 I'd say that's a fair price for no bullshit.

relatively safe before they get on the road

No it doesn't. Besides, liability laws do that.

Have you ever sued anybody?

Lawsuits are expensive, the judgment doesn't pay your lawyer's fees if you win, and if a pedestrian or passenger with horrible damages sues a driver who doesn't have a lot of money, all he can collect is the limit of the insurance policy, which may be only a fraction of the damages. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/0...

New York City had this problem with taxi drivers, so they raised the insurance coverage, and they also changed the partition between the passenger compartment and the driver's compartment, which gave drivers some protection against robbery but also caused some severe facial injuries in minor accidents.

The other problem with your libertarian ideas is that your fellow-travellers, the Republican pro-business conservatives, are working on tort "reform" which makes it more difficult for people who are injured to collect damages commensurate with the injuries.

Workers Compensation is like that. Would you want to lose an arm, and be compensated for a 25% disability under the no-fault disability system with $175 a week? Most people would rather be working in a factory with government regulations that prevents them from losing the arm in the first place.

The other stunt that your corporate masters are pulling is to put "arbitration clauses" into the fine print of contracts that you can sign. https://www.uber.com/legal/ter...

Any lawyer who handles personal injury cases can tell you that it's a lot easier and cheaper to prevent accidents in the first place than to go to court and try to compensate the victim afterwards. The drivers don't care. If they wind up with a million dollar judgment, they'll just go bankrupt or move back to the third-world country they came from.

*no* self-driving cars out there

Other than the ones Uber bought running around Pittsburgh.

But we haven't built an AI that can match a trained human.

Unfortunately all of our AIs have ended up being better than humans. They don't drink and drive, they watch the road at all times, they can look forward and back at the same time. I don't see the point in training an AI that can match a 16 year old behind the wheel, I think we can do better.

Like I said above, tell me where your goal posts are so you stop moving them on me. The second a car meets your criteria they'll move to a "But they can't do X".

There are already autonomous vehicle racing circuits. Audi's cars in 2012 were just seconds slower than a race car driver (and probably much better than the average driver) http://newatlas.com/stanford-a...

The road is 'production'. These vehicles have been running around all types of environments since the first DARPA challenge in 2004. In 2010 Audi went up Pikes Peak in one. I've seen multiple Slashdot statements claiming what these cars "can't" do that they've been doing for nearly a decade.

And Google just gave up.

Google gives up on everything.

Step 1: Create system where I make money doing nothing, we will call this being a platform Step 2: Force existing systems to work for me by under cutting prices and providing a better way to interact Step 3: Profit

Shit, Uber makes profit by undercutting cabs who already did not make much money... You can tell people not to drive for them, but when you see the lease terms uber demands (weekly payments, taken directly from your take, you dont pay we take the car) then you see that they are required to drive, and drive long hours if riders are minimal.

This is a firm that has a master plan of shifting as much as it can on to other people so its 30% cut can be 90% profit. So far its working because people with no job will work any job in a world where unskilled labor is not worth much (driving is definitely on the unskilled labor side here) There are simply not many other jobs out there for a subset of people.

Uber's real business (see bottom of page) model is incentivizing wage-slavery with poverty wages and binding contract enforcement - it is just the vehicular version of the company town.

...or a vehicular version of Spotify to cite an example millennials will understand.

Step 1: Create system where I make money doing nothing, we will call this being a platform Step 2: Force existing systems to work for me by under cutting prices and providing a better way to interact Step 3: Profit

Shit, Uber makes profit by undercutting cabs who already did not make much money... You can tell people not to drive for them, but when you see the lease terms uber demands (weekly payments, taken directly from your take, you dont pay we take the car) then you see that they are required to drive, and drive long hours if riders are minimal.

This is a firm that has a master plan of shifting as much as it can on to other people so its 30% cut can be 90% profit. So far its working because people with no job will work any job in a world where unskilled labor is not worth much (driving is definitely on the unskilled labor side here) There are simply not many other jobs out there for a subset of people.

Uber's real business (see bottom of page) model is incentivizing wage-slavery with poverty wages and binding contract enforcement - it is just the vehicular version of the company town.

prepaid CC FTW

https://help.uber.com/h/cf7e93...

Uber doesn't allow tips. Mind you, the drivers are all absolutely still private contractors thank you very much.

Uber doesn't REQUIRE tips, but it does allow them. https://help.uber.com/h/f7385b...

Uber insures all drivers in the US under a commercial insurance policy, and always has. Are you trying to claim that they work differently in Canada?

Yes.

https://newsroom.uber.com/cana...

Nope, no different in Canada. That is at least Ontario, you may need to check if they do in your section of Canada. Though I can't imagine it would be different for some reason.

It is. Unless Uber explicitely gets an agreement with a city/province, it doesn't insure drivers in Canada. The deal with Ontario is very recent (2 months). Before that (for much of Uber's history in the province), it was the driver's responsibility to be insured. Most didn't bothered.
There is no Canada-wide Uber-provided insurance for drivers.

Where do you live? Uber carries commercial insurance policies on their drivers in the US and Ontario at least. This no insurance thing keeps persisting, despite evidence to the contrary.

https://newsroom.uber.com/cana...
https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

Where do you live? Uber carries commercial insurance policies on their drivers in the US and Ontario at least. This no insurance thing keeps persisting, despite evidence to the contrary.

https://newsroom.uber.com/cana...
https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

Uber insures all drivers in the US under a commercial insurance policy, and always has. Are you trying to claim that they work differently in Canada?

https://newsroom.uber.com/cana...

Nope, no different in Canada. That is at least Ontario, you may need to check if they do in your section of Canada. Though I can't imagine it would be different for some reason.

https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

Uber insures all drivers in the US under a commercial insurance policy, and always has. Are you trying to claim that they work differently in Canada?

https://newsroom.uber.com/cana...

Nope, no different in Canada. That is at least Ontario, you may need to check if they do in your section of Canada. Though I can't imagine it would be different for some reason.

Um, Tawfiqul Alam should have been using Uber's commercial insurance policy that they offer, Aviva is apparently morons as they are dropping people for non commercial policies that are used in non commercial times (otherwise it is Uber covering the incident).

You haven't actually disagreed with me in a single point. Where do you show that Uber does not carry commercial policies as they state that they do? It seems you are just pointing out people doing what people do, which is do stupid shit.

If you drive your car in a commercial situation sometimes, and your car is covered with a commercial policy at those times, why should your personal insurance company drop you when your car is not being driven commercially? This makes no sense, the cars are not commercial vehicles, and are covered by commercial policies when they are being used for commercial purposes, so there is no issue with the personal policies except when someone apparently tries to use the wrong policy in the wrong situation.

I guess I need to reiterate, Uber carries commercial policies on their drivers:

https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

There are no uninsured Uber cars carrying passengers, that is covered by a policy, and personal insurers dropping people off their policies is more of a sign of a misunderstanding than an issue with Uber.

You may be trying to be funny, but you do realize that Uber does hold insurance on their drivers, don't you?

https://newsroom.uber.com/5646...

The lack of insurance argument was always bullshit, it was never an issue with Uber.

Amazing https://www.uber.com/fare-esti...

That's not a meter. That's an app that only estimates the price. Estimate. App. The fact is that Uber users routinely get into cars driven strangers and no meters. Yet you seem surprised that I would get into a car driven by a stranger when it has a meter and taxi markings.

So now you are upset with that time/distance price on the meter ?

You're real good at reading things I didn't write. I didn't say I was upset with the price on the meter. I said that the price I was told to pay at the end of the ride was amazingly ridiculous. It wasn't "the price on the meter". With no regulation, who says that the "price on the meter" means anything?

Come on lets have a little consistency here

How about a little bit of not reading things I didn't actually write? And a little bit of consistency about how stupid it is to get into a car with a stranger and no meter?

But I'll point out what you just said applies in spades to Uber drivers. Car, stranger, no meter ...

Amazing https://www.uber.com/fare-esti...

BTW You can use that on a smartphone

I got in a car with "TAXI" all over the outside, with a meter

So now you are upset with that time/distance price on the meter ?

Come on lets have a little consistency here

How about this one from Uber's site? $1029.79 is a good haul for a week.That is over $52K/year.

Well, the advertised gross according to Uber themselves is $1,021.79 per week.
Gross = 1021.79/week is 53,133.08/year working 52 weeks per year
Net = 684.60 - 766.34 per week (on expenses of 25-33%) is between $35,599.16 - $39,849.81 per year

They don't advertise how many hours you have to work to make that weekly gross, though, but for the numbers given above to make that 684.60 net means you have to work:
At $13.17/hour = 52 hours.
At $10.75/hour = 64 hours.
At $8.77/hour = 78 hours.

And that's at only half of the 100k gross that Uber is claiming.

Trying to find the reports I was looking at. Slashdot carried an article several months ago about Uber getting hit up in California because, across the whole state, they've had 25 assaults on passengers in their entire operating history; I did a bunch of research on the topic then, and concluded that Uber isn't specially safer, just not specially more dangerous. A lot of comments had horror stories about how taxis are so constantly dangerous to passengers, but that's the same kind of wargarble on the other side.

This one isn't strong enough. It makes a lot of logical arguments and carries some data (passenger assaults on drivers), but not the data I want (driver assaults on passengers). Still, the argument that fingerprinting might possibly carry more than 7 years of non-conviction arrests while Uber's background checks get all of that data *except* the non-conviction arrests is ... telling (what, not guilty, but not *really* innocent because you *did* get arrested some 20 years ago, even if the judge decided you didn't commit any crime? They're going to ban you from driving Uber for that? That's a lot of grasping for straws).

A Chicago study says taxi crimes went down when Uber entered the market; I think they just shifted taxi service to Uber and didn't count Uber crime. New York reports a rise in taxi cab sexual assault reporting, I think because people are chattering about how possibly dangerous Uber/Lyft might be and now are primed to be more vocal about getting groped in a taxicab. I also found a newspaper with the 2016 headline, "New York taxi drivers banned from flirting with or ejaculating on passengers" ... ... wtf?

This is impossible today. If you put "taxi assault statistics" into Google, you get 16 pages of highly-political, heavily-biased pages about Uber/Lyft, and how taxis *must* be safer because of insurance or background checks, or how Uber *must* be safer because it has *better* insurance or background checks (and tons of technology tracking everything that happens). Most studies are localized, not nationalized, and so you come across Chicago and Detroit and New York and "our city police don't specially-track who was committing a crime, so we can't know how many taxi drivers actually assault passengers". News outlets aren't particularly invested in settling the dispute, either, because it creates fear and draws eyeballs.

Great. Now I have to wait for both some institute to publish statistics *and* the news to latch onto it and make it popular so it doesn't vanish into the black hole of shit-you-can't-find-on-the-Internet.

[citation needed]

Citation 1.
Citation 2.
Citation 3.

when you've booked them for a certain time - if you knew you were going to be late, then you should book the ride for a later time.

Well.. I would agree, but, you actually can't book the ride for a later time according to the online help for Uber. Uber is always booked on-demand by making a request through the app; there’s no need to set a reservation in advance..

It seems that allowing bookings for a particular time would be the most fair.

Wowsers... easy fix, do scheduled pick-ups. I know the app for our local taxi company can - and yes, I mean an app for a real life, actual taxi company!

In that situation, I simply say, "Pick me up at 4:30 pm". The onus is on them, now, to estimate their travel time. Then, it'd be fair for the clock to start ticking from the scheduled pick-up time. Sounds an easy way out of that situation!

(Never used Uber, but just checked. Uber is always booked on-demand by making a request through the app; there’s no need to set a reservation in advance.. They really mean no ability, not no need. Smart, pushes all the risk on to other people.)

These are some restrictive rules: https://newsroom.uber.com/bug-...

https://www.uber.com/legal/fir...

Nope.

There is a long history (in New York anyway) of unlicensed gypsy cabs. Sometimes they get caught and are hit with heavy fines. I don't see how Uber is any different.

So if you are agreeing that Uber does outrun the government, which bit does the 'nope' apply to?

There is one way Uber is different - they are spending millions on lobbying governments. Take this job ad for example: https://www.uber.com/jobs/6280...

So you are actually saying Uber is far worse?? You do understand the difference between politicians vs lobbying governments. You can do the first, you can't do the second, at least not in most first world countries.

Nope.

There is a long history (in New York anyway) of unlicensed gypsy cabs. Sometimes they get caught and are hit with heavy fines. I don't see how Uber is any different.

There is one way Uber is different - they are spending millions on lobbying governments. Take this job ad for example: https://www.uber.com/jobs/6280...

Last May when my auto insurance policy renewed there were a few pages enclosed. Adding / detracting language from the previous policy. While not stating Uber or Lyft by name it was clear that the insurance company was writing them completely out of the picture.

And this is a good point. While Uber claims to have bazillions to insure payments in case of accidents, much of the liability will be negated when the driver's actual insurance company denies your claim for injury. And as well, your own insurence company will bail out as well.

Uber / Lift is an unregulated taxi service staffed by drivers that have met a non-existent bar for entry.

Myself? I always hire a towncar.

Isn't Uber's liability insurance exactly for the situation that you describe? It seems like it would be pretty useless if it were secondary insurance that only covered accidents over and above what is paid out by the driver's insurance.

They even say that it's primary insurance:

http://newsroom.uber.com/2014/...

$1 million of liability coverage per incident. Uber holds a commercial insurance policy with $1 million of coverage per incident. Drivers’ liability to third parties is covered from the moment a driver accepts a trip to its conclusion. This policy is expressly primary to any personal auto coverage (However it will not take precedence over any commercial auto insurance for the vehicle). We have provided a $1 million liability policy since commencing ridesharing in early 2013.

They have their Certificate of Insurance docs online for each state.

Last May when my auto insurance policy renewed there were a few pages enclosed. Adding / detracting language from the previous policy. While not stating Uber or Lyft by name it was clear that the insurance company was writing them completely out of the picture.

And this is a good point. While Uber claims to have bazillions to insure payments in case of accidents, much of the liability will be negated when the driver's actual insurance company denies your claim for injury. And as well, your own insurence company will bail out as well.

Uber / Lift is an unregulated taxi service staffed by drivers that have met a non-existent bar for entry.

Myself? I always hire a towncar.

Isn't Uber's liability insurance exactly for the situation that you describe? It seems like it would be pretty useless if it were secondary insurance that only covered accidents over and above what is paid out by the driver's insurance.

They even say that it's primary insurance:

http://newsroom.uber.com/2014/...

$1 million of liability coverage per incident. Uber holds a commercial insurance policy with $1 million of coverage per incident. Drivers’ liability to third parties is covered from the moment a driver accepts a trip to its conclusion. This policy is expressly primary to any personal auto coverage (However it will not take precedence over any commercial auto insurance for the vehicle). We have provided a $1 million liability policy since commencing ridesharing in early 2013.

They have their Certificate of Insurance docs online for each state.

https://wallethub.com/edu/ride...
citation for Uber's insurance.

https://www.uber.com/safety

Uber uses background checks in the US, not sure about other countries.

I've been closely following every aspect of "The Uber Controversy" for nearly eighteen months and I happen to be informed enough to know that you're lying

Drivers' liability to third parties is covered from the moment a driver accepts a trip to its conclusion.

Hmm... That's rather informative. It's good to see the 'wider' picture.

There's a vast difference between saying 'You have to pick the customers up in a clean vehicle that was made before the year 2011' because clean is just 'good business' for a service provider and NYC requires vehicles driving paying passengers around be less than 5 years old, and requiring drivers lease 'their' vehicle from the same company they're getting loads from. For that matter, for basic service Uber requires: "Any mid-size or full-size 4-door vehicle, in excellent condition." in other cities. You could technically pick customers up in a Model T Ford. The shipping equivalent could be something like 'DOT compliant semi capable of hauling the load'. If you have a fancy car like a Model S in NYC, you can sign up for 'uberBlack', which is for passengers wanting something fancier.

Competitors only? Not, for example, in a joint venture?

http://www.cmu.edu/cie/news/20...

http://blog.uber.com/carnegie-...

Uber provides insurance for drivers when they are in commercial use:

http://blog.uber.com/rideshari...

Only while there is a passenger in the car. It does NOT cover the period where the driver is actively looking for a fare.

It's a subtle point, but a driver going to pick up a fare can get in an accident, and an insurance company can consider that commercial uncovered behavior (the driver was not using the car for pleasure, or commute purposes).

And it can be a lot worse - Uber could be required to follow things like "taxi bill of rights" laws that say if a driver is unable to provide the fare the required trip, they must wait for another driver who will. (Too many taxi drivers were passing up fares because they were "too black" or other discriminatory measure, or even something as simple as not being handi-accessible. They're required to call in a new vehicle and wait with the fare until the replacement arrives.).

Uber provides insurance for drivers when they are in commercial use:

http://blog.uber.com/rideshari...

The only thing I really miss is having the Uber app... but I'm getting by with traditional taxis (which is fine for work travel mainly, so I don't miss uber... much).

BlackBerry has one of the best mobile browsers going. Have you tried https://m.uber.com/

I looked it up for Melbourne, and it turns out Uber is already on the same page. In most cases comparing Uber to taxis is completely off the mark.

http://blog.uber.com/vichc2
http://www.taxi.vic.gov.au/__d...

From this, it looks like Uber has $1M in insurance during paid trips.