Why Did Uber Get Shellacked For Performing Their Corporate Civic Duty But Tesla Remained Unaffected?

@BobM for an old fart you got quite a mean spirit. It must be the water you drink at your hell hole. You are drunk with the bullshit the fundamentalist "news" sites feed you daily. Time to get off the Trump parade - no one is interested in your political rants.

And to attack a group of people (Uber drivers) trying to make an honest living is LOW - even by your standard.

Uber, with all its flaws, offers a far better alternative than the existing taxi service. Ever try to hail a cab in a city outside of NYC or SF downtown ? In Silicon Valley, a typical wait in the middle of the day is only a few minutes and fare is less than half that of Yellow Cab. Most cars are newer models, all cars are clean, many offer free bottle of water, ...

With the instant feedback system, Uber drivers are aware of their performance and customer evaluation - riders have the option to select the driver so this is a working closed-loop system that is constantly improving. No one can say the same thing about Yellow Cab.

@BobM - that's the funniest and most spot-on summary of the Tesla vs Uber conundrum out there.

I guess in this economy the key to success is to fleece less intelligent people and/or push off your costs of doing business, in a consistent manner, onto people (i.e. Uber drivers) who don't realize they are being taken advantage of.

Uber has two things going for it right now - (a) gas is cheap and (b) it basically has no real competition.

Let's see how the Uber business model works when eventually (and this will happen in a state like NY, Illinois, or California) Uber drviers are deemed to be employees and let's see how uber pricing stands up when there is a Trump-inspired crisis in the middle east that sends the cost of unleaded back up to $5.00 per gallon.

PR aside, it will be interesting to see how Mr. Musk deals with his brewing labor problems in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia.

I think the main difference between Uber and Tesla is that Uber slightly screws over a large group of people (its 1,000's of drivers) who are not that bright, while Tesla in a fragile manner, relies on government handouts and passionate customers (for now) who overlook the vehicle's many issues (safety, reliability, customer service, resale value, built quality) just so they can drink-up the "cool" Kool-Aid.

My money is on Uber for the long term.

Indeed. The car's insurance is void so not only is the driver risking his own coverage, he assumes the uninsured liability for the passengers. Uber is also liable if it does not specifically require "taxi" insurance for all of its "employees".

The people worked up over Trump may have been Uber customers but few are Tesla customers. Additionally, there is an easy alternate to Uber, in Lyft. But it is mostly the group that is easily manipulated into group think.

The question should have been when does corporate policy violate/impair/contradicts the views of its customers.

When Uber does become a publicly traded company, then it will be under greater scrutiny to balance corporate interests with possible interactions with public sentiment.