Uber Transportation - Term Paper Example

It goes without saying that with people starting to acknowledge their living standards being improved, even the taxi market industry have geared up for the same. The taxi market in most recent has developed more by incorporating advanced technology to lure their customers. The usual mode of 020 has in most recent advanced the initiation of various taxi applications by providing technological popularity and support through online services. Particularly, with the swift enlargement online services, more consumers are willing to preference any taxi company that embraces advanced technology through online applications. Among the companies in the taxi industry adopting this technology is Uber. It is powered by an App on request car service provider in the smartphones (Azevedo & Maciejewski, 2015). Nonetheless its unique name, more investors have started to recognize Uber for the last few years since it had begun to steal most of our market share from the customary transportation companies. Thus, this paper examines the Uber transportation.

Uber is an American technology company. Its headquarters are in United States, California and San Francisco. Uber operates in 633 cities all over the world. It develops and operates Uber car transportation and delivery services using the mobile apps. The Uber drivers use their cars. However, the drivers can rent a car to be driven with Uber.

Uber offers different levels of services. However, not all service levels are available in every city. UberPOOL is a service by Uber where customers share a ride with another customer headed in the same direction. UberPOOL is a service that is least expensive. UberX level of service allows a rider have a private ride. UberGO, especially in India provides one a ride in a hatchback. UberTAXI services level allows riders to summon a taxi through the Uber software application. UberEATS which is available in 71 cities lets users have meals delivered. UberRUSH allows packages to be delivered. UberBOAT is a water-taxi service which enables users to travel by boats. Uber offers additional services in some cities, especially during special events. During Christmas, Uber offers to deliver Christmas trees.

Since Uber uses technology to work, it is straightforward to get their services. The smartphones' apps are used to connect the riders to the drivers of Uber. Cities where Uber operates, one uses the passenger app to place a request for a ride. The driver-partner nearby where you have put a request then accept your offer. The app then displays the time estimated till the driver of the nearby Uber arrives at the location to pick you up. Equally, the app will notify you when the driver-partner is almost coming. It also gives you information about your driver-partner. The information includes the driver's first name, license plate number and the type of the vehicle. This information is essential as it helps both of to connect at the location of your pick up easily.

As you alight when you finalize your journey, the trip officially ends. The fare used is automatically calculated when you are charged. Payment is settled using the payment method attached to your account of Uber (Horpedahl, 2015). Some cities, however, allow cash payment once you are at your destination. This option as well must be selected as soon as you request a ride. As soon as your trip comes to an end, the app will require that you rate the driver-partner at a scale of 1 to 5 stars. The drivers too are asked to do the same to riders. The Uber's feedback system is intended to nurture a society of accountability and respect for every individual. If for instance, a driver rates a rider below three stars, this implies that the rider can never be paired with that same driver again. Uber as well can deactivate or punish the drivers that are lowly rated by the riders.

Uber in the recent cases has been surrounded with new scandals every week. It has been faced with several allegations of a toxic workplace. Equally, the charges of a stolen technology of self-driving cars have been facing Uber in the recent times. These problems didn't just arise from the blues. Uber has suffered great losses, alienating riders and pissing off drivers. Uber have dug their deep hole, and they appear to be at a loss on what to do next.

Around January, about 500,000 users joined the campaign to DELETEUBER apps from their smartphones due to lack of support from the company for protests against the immigration ban. The lack of support from the company depicted a picture that Uber cared less for its drivers. This deletion came a few weeks later when Susan Fowler, an engineer had left the company and accused the company of sexual harassment and rampant sexism. Google then sued Uber for stealing the self-driving car technology. Google, an investor in Uber, realized that the relationship in the two firms was becoming quite competitive. Both of them strived to dominate the idea of the self-driving car. Later a video of a rider and a driver arguing profanely emerged. The New York Times equally brought into light that Uber companies had moved and illegally operated in some cities it was not allowed.

Uber has continued to lose employees. A well-known marketing executive, Jeff Jones, left within seven months. He said that the approaches and beliefs of leadership in Uber are not in line with what has been guiding his career. They are purely inconsistent. He didn't like to be in Uber where it is so clear that to them people don't get valued so much as long as an extra cent has been made. Malhotra & Van Alstyne (2014) further claimed that Uber is the most capitalist company on earth. Mayor Bills was also disillusioned with Uber despite the fact that he was one of the biggest people when Uber launched the self-driving cars' program. Later, California regulators claimed that the company's failure to take action against the drivers who were drunk might subject Uber to more than one million dollars.

The business position of Uber is that it has experienced a growth from its $15 billion investment (Henten & Windekilde, 2016). It has also acknowledged that the losses suffered are coming mostly from the subsidized rides. The most worrying thing than experiencing losses is the significant efficiencies Uber had brought that will translate to low cost of drives from one point to another. To bring to light about its massive losses, the company and the investors have made reference to Amazon that did not turn the ten years end profit but opted to build an infrastructure and sold more books. However, the taxi venture does not scale similarly. Uber's technology moreover is so sophisticated, barriers to entry also so low and Uber has been forced to fend off many competitors. The only possible path for Uber to meet it's $68 billion valuations is to eliminate the competition.

Uber is equally aspiring to move towards a monopoly venture. Its aspiration of being a monopoly is very sensitive. This is because of the recent events experienced by Uber and thus making it hard to imagine acting a monopoly. Its expansion interests make sense why it is justified for a high valuation. This has however drawn several criticisms from various people who wonder why Uber should move into many different markets before becoming profitable first (Rauch, & Schleicher, 2015).

Despite some of the challenges Uber faces in the taxi industry, it is observable that most consumers of taxi services use Uber services than any regular competing company. This is evident since most people have been flocking on Uber terminals while others have been witnessed searching and installing Uber application on their smartphones for use. It goes without saying that with people starting to acknowledge the improved technology Uber has invested is essential for the comfort of its customers. It is through technology that Uber has lured most customers than any regular competitor. Apart from embracing technology in the form of using App for smartphones, it has attracted a considerable number of investors than any other transportation company. This is an indicator that this Uber is here to stay. It will go on embracing new technology that will make passengers who ride on these cars more comfortable than ever. Uber is a company to watch in future regarding technology and financial investments.

References

Azevedo, F., & Maciejewski, M. (2015). Social, Economic and Legal Consequences of Uber and Similar Transportation Network Companies (TNCs). Briefing, European Parliament.

Henten, A. H., & Windekilde, I. M. (2016). Transaction costs and the sharing economy. info, 18(1), 1-15.

Horpedahl, J. (2015). Ideology Uber Alles? Economics Bloggers on Uber, Lyft, and Other Transportation Network Companies. Econ Journal Watch, 12(3).

Malhotra, A., & Van Alstyne, M. (2014). The dark side of the sharing economy and how to lighten it. Communications of the ACM, 57(11), 24-27.

Rauch, D. E., & Schleicher, D. (2015). Like Uber, but for local government law: the future of local regulation of the sharing economy. Ohio St. LJ, 76, 901.