The setbacks have included rampant internal
sexual harassment and allegations it stole self-
driving car technology.
The blowback from the problems helped Lyft
pick up ground in the U.S. — something Uber
acknowledged in its filing — and led to the
ouster of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick as CEO
in 2017. Now it will be up to Kalanick’s successor,
Khosrowshahi, to persuade investors that Uber has
cleaned up its act and merits a market value higher
than Ford Motor and General Motors combined.
Kalanick is one of Uber’s largest shareholders,
owning nearly 9% of the company’s stock.
Uber has been investing substantially in self-
driving vehicles, which could be critical to
reducing driver costs and achieving profitability.
It launched its first self-driving test vehicle in 2016
and its self-driving car division has more than
1,000 employees, and it has built more than 250
self-driving cars so far.
But it suspended testing when one of its self-
driving vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in
Arizona last year. The company resumed testing
self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh in December.
In its federal filing, Uber warned of the fierce
competition it faces on that front from rivals such
as Tesla and Google’s Waymo, who it said could
introduce autonomous vehicles earlier than Uber.
The company also warned that potential future
regulations or increases in insurance costs could
impact the autonomous vehicle business.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, owns
5% of Uber, even as it competes with Uber on
self-driving technology. Alphabet also owns
roughly 5% of Lyft’s stock.