Do you know “Uber?” Uber is a car service that is activated by an app. They are a rapidly growing company now in 53 countries and the San Francisco-based company currently enjoys an incredible valuation of $40 billion.
In the beginning, Uber offered sleek limo type vehicles only; it has since been expanded to any car with any qualified driver. Yes, that means just about any car with any qualified driver. Not only is Uber convenient, it can save you money over a standard taxi fare.
As long as everyone knows the rules, the Uber system is supposed to work ethically and with convenience and safety. You tap the smartphone app, the “just-about-any-car” shows up and gets you where you want to go.
South Korea Doesn’t Like Uber
According to an article in Bloomberg News (December 24, 2014) entitled: “Uber CEO Indicted in Korea as Police Raid Chinese Training Site,” we learn that:
“Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick was indicted in South Korea and Chinese police raided a company training site in the latest instances of government scrutiny of the car-booking company.
Kalanick, Uber’s Korean unit and car-rental partner MK Korea were indicted yesterday by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office for flouting a local transportation law prohibiting rental cars from operating as cabs, according to an official at the department, who asked not to be named citing internal policy. The official declined to comment on whether prosecutors expect Kalanick to appear for questioning.”
This is not the first time the company has been accused of functioning as a local taxi company in a kind of a freelance mode. It is tempting to want to use Uber as a kind of cut-rate taxi, I get that, but Uber is without regulation. You never know what you will really get. The same, “cut-rate taxi” situation has occurred in other countries:
“The San Francisco-based car-booking company is coming under increased scrutiny worldwide as governments step up regulation of its car-sharing service, which licensed taxi operators call unfair competition.”
We should also note that in New Delhi, India an Uber driver allegedly raped a woman. The drivers, much like the cars they drive, are loosely regulated.
Start with Ethics
From everything I have read about Uber, they are a company that has out-paced its own success. People the world over like the idea that they can tap on an app and get a car service to show up rather than an expensive taxi. Uber has the same appeal as Airbnb, the alternative to expensive hotels and motels. Uber appeals to me as well however, there is something that is ethically troubling. I just don’t like the idea of a driver claiming to be a taxi, or soliciting like a taxi, and not being regulated like a taxi. Additionally, everyone should be nervous that the driver is not under the same rigorous scrutiny as a licensed driver might be in New York or Chicago.
It starts at the top, of course.
To all my hi-tech friends and to all of those who believe that human interaction is far less important than the device to software interface, I want to make it clear that good ethics are far more important and meaningful. Uber is a case in point.
For Uber to not have an ethical compass, and ethical expectations across all countries and cities is wrong. When the organization has opened itself up to irregular standards by being unregulated, it opens itself up to all kinds of ethical miscues. If I ran Uber, the first thing I would institute is mandatory ethical training. I would want to create an atmosphere where every new employee (and periodically existing employees) as to what is expected, what is not accepted and most importantly what the consequences are for certain choices. I would train drivers to understand what acceptable and unacceptable behavior is at every level of the company.
Therefore, if a driver knows he or she cannot function as a taxi, and does so, it represents an immediate consequence.
I would also routinely place people in the field to make sure that the cars that show up and those driving those cars would meet my standards.
With our interactions on a personal basis or in a $40 billion company, we have ethical contracts with one another. In the case of Uber, some drivers are seizing opportunities and poor choices to take advantage of the system, the established regulations and the company policy. To me it means that the expectations are not well defined. Poor choices lead to negative consequences no matter the situation. The good news is that it can be reversed.
Great points. The big, scary thing for me is that they really do not do any background checks in drivers in the US. Anyone can jump from anything to be a driver.
Glad to see you weigh in on this one, Chuck. No doubt in my mind that Uber is very much adrift ethically and this moral void is manifesting in clear and measurable ways and they are getting bitten repeatedly by it. Regardless of whether we use computers as tools in our businesses, at the end it is the people (and their ethical compass) which chart the course for the business. In Uber’s case, sadly, they seem to have missed the plot, and this is why their troubles continue.