As the ride-hailing outfit Uber has continued its assault on the established taxi industry—oftentimes with dubious legality—the company’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, has often repaired to an essentially humanitarian argument to make his case for the company. Specifically, Kalanick says that Uber is great for the drivers it
uses as independent contractors.
“In many ways, we look at Uber as the safety net for a city,” Kalanick said earlier this year, meaning that if, say, a factory were to close, Uber would provide ready employment to legions of the laid off. The tech honcho has also frequently talked up the flexibility that the company provides for its drivers. “They can push a button and get to work. They can push a button and stop working,” he says.
All true—and convincing! And yet, Kalanick has now poked a whole in his own argument so large that a Hummer—Uber-driven or otherwise—could drive through it with ease.
Uber is moving rapidly into self-driving cars. Already, a fleet of them is plying the streets of Pittsburgh. The company also recently purchased Otto, a start-up focused on building self-driving trucks. And Kalanick—when not rhapsodizing about the liberating affects of the “gig economy”—has often stated that he envisages an entirely driverless Uber corporation.
In other words, when Kalanick makes the case for his company, he should probably stick with talking about the benefits for riders, not drivers. The former are undeniable—flexibility, low costs, etc. But when he mentions the latter, Kalanick looks downright disingenuous. If one of the great things about Uber is what it does for drivers, why are is he planning to jettison them?
I asked this question of Uber’s communications department last week, but haven’t heard back. Perhaps a robot would be more expeditious in responding to media requests than a human.
