Uber stands by CEO, promises culture change

Despite her positive comments about Kalanick, Huffington said there had already been changes at the company.

Uber are also facing legal actions over allegations of theft of driverless auto technology from Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc.

Uber has been facing a lot of controversies from quite a long time.

Asked why the company had trotted out three women and no men to meet with reporters, Huffington said it was because they were closest to efforts to overhaul the company’s culture.

Despite saying that she is not involved with the investigation – which is expected to be completed and reported to the public by the end of April – Huffington on Tuesday suggested she has visibility into the direction of the investigation so far. That was rather odd considering that Kalanick had made it abundantly clear that Huffington would be part of the investigations quite early on.

Board member Ariana Huffington spoke first about the backlash Uber received after former engineer Susan Fowler Rigetti revealed the institutional sexism of the company.

But its business has apparently weathered its controversies: The ride-hail company saw more rides on its platform in the USA last week than it ever has before, Rachel Holt, the head of Uber’s US and Canada operations, said on a call with reporters today. In response, CEO Travis Kalanick said an investigation would be conducted to look into Uber’s workplace.

Uber president Jeff Jones quit his job as chief operating officer after just seven months in office. Instead his concern over problems at the company were to blame. “Fundamental change is underway”. After a viral video showed CEO Travis Kalanick berating an Uber driver, Kalanick acknowledged needing some leadership “help”. In January, Kalanick dropped out of Trump’s economic advisory group after he was criticized for his ties to the president. Huffington is helping oversee the inquiry process, along with Eric Holder, the former US attorney general.

Google claims that Anthony Levandowski downloaded 14,000 files of information while working for them – then went off to set up a self-driving vehicle firm which he had already said would be bought by Uber.

Uber also spoke about its continuing investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and “toxic” working culture. She appeared with two female executives who outlined steps to improve the treatment of woman at Uber and also to better the drivers’ lot.

An Uber spokesperson expressed the company’s gratitude on Jones’ service to the company.

All of the incidents recounted above appear not, however, to have notably dented the company: during the all hands meeting Rachel Holt said “Last week, riders in the USA took more trips with Uber than ever before”.