uber technologies inc. uber s logo as of february 2016 type private industry technology founded march 2009 ; 7 years ago 2009 03 as ubercab founders travis kalanick alexander hank garrett camp headquarters san francisco california u.s.a area served worldwide key people travis kalanick ceo ryan graves services taxicab vehicle for hire revenue us 1.5 billion 2015 number of employees 6 700 1 website www.uber.com uber technologies inc. is an american worldwide online transportation network company headquartered in san francisco california . it develops markets and operates the uber mobile app which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which the software program then automatically sends to the uber driver nearest to the consumer alerting the driver to the location of the customer . uber drivers use their own personal cars . 2 3 as of august 2016 the service was available in over 66 countries and 507 cities worldwide . 4 5 the uber app automatically calculates the fare and transfers the payment to the driver . since uber s launch several other companies have replicated its business model a trend that has come to be referred to as uberification . 6 7 the legality of uber has been challenged by governments and taxi companies who allege that its use of drivers who are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal ; 8 some taxi driver unions have called uber drivers pirate taxis . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 additional funding 1.3 opposition 1.4 self driving car research 1.5 partnerships 1.6 helicopter service 1.7 mapping uk city streets 2 uberisation 3 software and services 3.1 pricing and payments 3.2 surge pricing 3.3 rating score 3.4 reception 3.5 paris 3.6 development history 3.7 product expansion 4 requirements for driving 5 marketing 6 benefits 7 competitive effects 8 criticism 8.1 lawsuits by private entities 8.1.1 national federation of the blind lawsuit 8.2 protests 8.3 sabotage against competitors 8.3.1 operation slog 8.4 contractors or employees 8.5 threatening journalists 8.6 user privacy 8.7 safety 9 finances 10 see also 11 further reading 12 external links 13 references history edit further information timeline of uber early history edit travis kalanick co founder and ceo of uber in 2013 uber was founded as ubercab by garrett camp the founder of stumbleupon and travis kalanick in 2009 . 9 10 the company received 200 000 in seed funding that same year . 11 better source needed in 2010 uber raised 1.25 million in additional funding . 11 12 following a beta launch in the summer of 2010 uber s services and mobile app officially launched in san francisco in 2011 . 13 14 initially ryan graves was appointed as ceo however kalanick replaced him in the role later that year . 13 15 graves stepped down to become the company s coo . 16 by the end of 2011 uber had raised 44.5 million in funding . 17 18 that year the company changed its name from ubercab to uber . 19 the name uber is a reference to the common and somewhat slangy word uber meaning super and having its origins in the german word ber . 20 21 additional funding edit on december 12 2014 techcrunch reported that the chinese search engine baidu the mainland s largest is expected to make a significant investment in uber . 22 the deal the details of which were not shared with the media was confirmed on december 17 2014 following a beijing meeting involving kalanick and baidu chief executive and chairman robin lee who made a commitment to connect the search engine s map and mobile search features with uber s app . at the time of the arrangement uber existed in eight chinese mainland cities . kalanick told the media afterward of an absence of pressing regulatory issues for uber in china . 23 24 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 . 25 google ventures invested 258 million in 2013 . 26 the chinese search engine baidu made an investment in uber in december 2014 in a deal that also involved connecting uber with baidu s mapping apps . 22 27 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 . 28 opposition edit as uber grew internationally it also began to experience disputes with governments and taxi companies in those regions . in april 2014 uber was banned by the government in berlin although the company remains active in other german cities . the ban is still being discussed as of december 2014 . 29 taxi drivers in london berlin paris and madrid staged a large scale protest against uber on june 11 2014 . 30 in march 2015 uberpool was offered in austin texas in anticipation of the south by southwest festival . as of may 2016 uber has pulled their austin program due to stricter regulations from the government . 31 self driving car research edit uber autonomous vehicle testing in san francisco in october 2016 . also in february 2015 uber announced a collaboration with carnegie mellon to establish the uber advanced technologies center a new facility in pittsburgh meant to support research in the development of self driving vehicles . 32 uber announced the first customer trial of autonomous taxis which was to take place by the end of august 2016 in pittsburgh but was overtaken by nutonomy which launched the first public trial of electric self driving cabs in singapore on 25 august . 33 uber launched its first self driving car services to select customers in pittsburgh including pittsburgh mayor bill peduto on september 14 2016 . 34 uber has a fleet of ford fusion cars each equipped with 20 cameras seven lasers and gps and radar equipment . these enable the car to create a three dimensional map utilising landmarks and other contextual information to keep track of its position . 35 they have established an advanced technology center to develop this technology in the strip district pittsburgh . 35 partnerships edit in may 2015 uber launched its ubermilitary families coalition a new project to support its existing ubermilitary initiative . 36 the project seeks to partner uber with existing military family organizations and hire more military dependents in addition to veterans as drivers . 36 in may 2015 uber updated its app to include accommodations for drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing . 37 in 2015 and 2016 uber launched partnerships with several transit agencies to encourage trips that connect the first or last mile to public transit . these agencies included septa 38 metropolitan atlanta rapid transit authority 39 los angeles county metropolitan transportation authority 40 dallas area rapid transit 41 and pinellas suncoast transit authority . 42 helicopter service edit also in 2016 the company partnered with airbus to test an uber service with helicopters in s o paulo a city famous for its extreme traffic congestion and for having the largest helicopter fleet of any city in the world . the test which lasted for one month was uber s first helicopter service that was not limited to specific events . uber has offered helicopter service at the cannes and sundance film festivals . 43 in september 2016 uber has announced that it s researching the possibility of developing small planes capable of vertical take off and landing vtol so they can be used for short haul flights in cities . 44 mapping uk city streets edit in september 2016 uber began mapping uk city streets in an effort to identify the best pick up and drop off points . the lift sharing firm plans to extend its mapping activities to other british cities including manchester birmingham and leeds . 45 uberisation edit main article uberisation the rise of companies like uber and grabcar and the changes they catalysed have started a discussion over the general transition to peer to peer transactions across industries . 46 47 the parallel rise of platforms such as netflix apple tv and airbnb in other industries has led to comparisons with the rise of uber and debate over whether and to what extent uberisation may displace traditional business models . 48 software and services edit the uber app software requires the users and drivers to have a smartphone . pricing and payments edit an uber ride in bogot colombia . visible on the dashboard is a phone running the uber app . uber s pricing is similar to that of metered taxis although all hiring and payment is handled exclusively through the uber app and not with the driver personally . in some cities if the uber car is travelling at a speed greater than 11 mph 18 km h the price is calculated on a distance basis ; otherwise the price is calculated on a time basis . 49 at the end of a ride the complete fare is automatically billed to the customer s credit card . 50 uber has said its prices are the premium that the customers pay for a cab service that is not only reliable but also punctual and comfortable . 51 52 53 in april 2016 uber began allowing drivers to place signs in their windows stating that they can accept tips . 54 in may 2015 uber started testing cash payments in india . the pilot project was started in the indian city of hyderabad . 55 in september 2015 uber tied up with airtel india to allow cab users to pay using airtel mobile wallet service . it also allows users to use airtel 4g data at no charges . 56 surge pricing edit uber uses an automated algorithm to increase prices to surge price levels responding rapidly to changes of supply and demand in the market and to attract more drivers during times of increased rider demand but also to reduce demand . 57 58 customers receive notice when making an uber reservation that prices have increased . 57 the company applied for a u.s. patent on surge pricing in 2013 59 60 but it was rejected for being obvious . the practice has often caused passengers to become upset and invited criticism when it has happened as a result of holidays inclement weather or natural disasters . 61 during new year s eve 2011 prices were as high as seven times normal rates causing outrage . 62 during the 2014 sydney hostage crisis uber implemented surge pricing resulting in fares of up to four times normal charges ; while it defended the surge pricing at first it later apologized and refunded the surcharges . 63 uber ceo travis kalanick has responded to criticism by saying ... because this is so new it s going to take some time for folks to accept it . there s 70 years of conditioning around the fixed price of taxis . 62 64 uber released a post detailing why surge pricing is in place and how it works . 65 they emphasized that without surge pricing uber would not have its trademark service of pushing a button and getting a ride in minutes . this is detailed in a case study around a sold out concert at madison square garden when surge pricing took effect . during this event the number of people who opened the app increased 4x but the actual ride requests only rose slightly enabling ride requests to be completed with the usual etas . surge pricing makes supply and demand match so efficiently that the waiting time is almost always below five minutes regardless of the circumstances . surge pricing increases economic efficiency in two ways 1 . rising prices motivate more drivers to start driving 2 . when there