Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 228) indicates that the transition of Anthony Levandowski and other colleagues at Google’s self-driving program, from Google to Otto, was a sham designed to streamline their transition to Uber. He explains that Levandowski created Otto “as if he were interested in pursuing his own trucking startup” (emphasis added). Otto’s discussion with venture capitalists were, Isaac says, “mostly for appearance’s sake.” Uber’s acquisition of Otto was, Isaac says, effectively preordained.
Levandowski’s colleagues touted “safety third”
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 226) reports that colleagues of Anthony Levandowski made stickers touting “Safety Third” — indicating that safety was not a top priority for self-driving truck company Otto or its founder.
Denied permission to film an autonomous vehicle on a public road, Levandowski did so anyway
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 193) reports that Anthony Levandowski, then working at the Otto autonomous truck startup he founded, sought permission from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles to video record a vehicle test on a public road. When the request was denied, Levandowski did so anyway.
Brazilian thieves and taxi cartels anonymously attacked, robbed, and even murdered drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 216) reports that in Brazil, Uber had a particularly light sign-up process: No identify documents, no credit card (since cash was more widely used), and just an email address or phone number. Thieves and taxi cartels could therefore sign up for Uber anonymously — then steal or burn cars, attack or rob drivers, and sometimes commit murder. Among the victims was Luis Filho, who was stabbed to death as passengers stole his vehicle.
Mexican taxi operators beat, robbed, and even murdered Uber drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 215) reports that taxi drivers in Mexico were frustrated at having spent spent thousands of dollars on licenses, permits, training classes, and other regulatory requirements — only for Uber to take their business. As cabbies grew more desperate, they beat and robbed Uber drivers — and killed one Uber driver in Guadalajara.
2014 hack released data about drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 208, 215) reports a May 2014 hack in which the names and license numbers of more than 50,000 drivers were compromised. Uber kept the hack secret, although California law required notifying authorities of a data breach.
Under guidance from new Chief Security Joe Sullivan, Uber finally reported the breach in February 2015, nine months after it occurred.
Detailed taxonomy of sexual misconduct and assault
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 207) that complaints about sexual misconduct and assault (typically though not exclusively between drivers and passengers) were so common that Uber created a twenty-one category classification system for these problems.
Kalanick demeaned board as “irrelevant” and under his control
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 197) reports a conversation between Travis Kalanick and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Kalanick told Cook: “The board is irrelevant. I hand pick all of these guys. They do what I tell them, and the way I’ve structured things, I do what I want.”
Circumvented Apple’s privacy protections on IMEI device IDs
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 193, 200, 203-204) explains how Apple concealed phones’ IMEI device IDs, but Uber found a way to circumvent this protection. Uber’s tactic increased its defenses against fake account scammers, but violated Apple’s rules regarding user privacy. To increase the likelihood that they’d be able to use this tactic, Uber kept it a secret — plus designed its circumvention code with “geofencing” so it would not function for users in greater San Francisco. But when an Apple tester outside California tested Uber’s app, Apple uncovered Uber’s ruse. Apple was angry not just about the circumvention of its privacy protections, but about the affirmative effort to avoid detection. Apple ultimately told Uber that if it ever again attempted this kind of deception, it would be kicked off of Apple devices permanently.
Lavish corporate real estate
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 190) describes lavish corporate real estate including a $40 million facility in Pittsburgh (hosting just 200 employees), a beachfront property in Santa Monica, and a new San Francisco facility for which the staircase alone cost multiple million dollars. In a war room, a switch could change all glass to frosted, to hide company secrets from outsiders.