History of Uber Timeline

In April 2012, Uber launched a service in Chicago whereby users were able to request a regular taxi or an Uber driver via its mobile app.

After Wingz, Lyft, and Sidecar obtained licenses to legally operate as rideshare companies, Uber announced it would add regular drivers with personal vehicles to the UberX platform instead of only commercially-licensed vehicles, subject to background checks, insurance, registration, and vehicle standards.

By December 2013, Uber operated in 65 cities, and USA Today named Uber its tech company of the year.

Uber had started operations in China in 2014 under the name 优步 (Yōubù).

In August 2014, Uber launched a shared transport service in the San Francisco Bay Area and launched Uber Eats, a food delivery service.

In February 2018, Uber combined its operations in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan with those of Yandex Taxi and invested $225 million in the venture.

Image source: Yandex Taxi

In March 2018, Uber merged its services in Southeast Asia with those of Grab in exchange for a 27.5% ownership stake in Grab.

Image source: Grab Holdings

In November 2018, Uber became a gold member of the Linux Foundation. In 2018, Uber also formed a partnership with Autzu, a San Francisco-based ridesharing company.

Image source: Linux Foundation

In October 2019, Uber acquired 53% of Cornershop, a provider of grocery delivery services primarily in Latin America. In June 2021, it acquired the remaining 47% interest for 29 million shares of Uber.

Image source: Brimful of Asha

In January 2020, Uber acquired Careem for $3.1 billion and sold its Indian Uber Eats operations to Zomato. Also that month, Uber tested a feature enabling drivers at Santa Barbara, Sacramento, and Palm Springs airports to set fares based on a multiple of Uber's rates.

In June 2020, in its first software as a service partnership, Uber announced it would manage the on-demand high-occupancy vehicle fleet for Marin Transit, a public bus agency in Marin County, California.

Image source: Marin Transit

In December 2020, Uber acquired Postmates for $2.65 billion. Also that month, Uber sold its Elevate division, which was developing short flights using VTOL aircraft, to Joby Aviation.

In January 2021, Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), a joint venture minority-owned by SoftBank Vision Fund, Toyota, and Denso that was developing self-driving cars, was sold to Aurora Innovation for $4 billion in equity, and Uber invested $400 million into Aurora.

Image source: Aurora Innovation

In October 2021, Uber acquired Drizly, an alcohol delivery service, for $1.1 billion in cash and stock; it was shut down in early 2024.

In January 2022, Uber acquired Australian car-sharing company Car Next Door.

In May 2025, Uber acquired an 85% controlling stake in Trendyol Go, an online meal and grocery delivery business based in Istanbul, for about $700 million in cash.

Image source: Trendyol

In February 2026, Uber announced the acquisition of SpotHero.

Image source: SpotHero

In July 2026, Uber agreed to acquire Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion.

On February 27, 2015, Uber admitted that it had suffered a data breach more than nine months prior. Uber discovered this leak in September 2014 but waited more than five months to notify the affected individuals.

On February 19, 2017, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published on her website that she was propositioned for sex by a manager and subsequently threatened with termination of employment by another manager if she continued to report the incident.

On February 27, 2017, Amit Singhal, Uber's Senior Vice President of Engineering, was forced to resign after he failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him that occurred while he served as Vice President of Google Search.

Image source: Amit Singhal

An investigation by The New York Times revealed that Uber developed a software tool called Greyball to avoid giving rides to known law enforcement officers in areas where its service was illegal such as Portland, Oregon, Australia, South Korea, and China, leading to government inquiries.

After investigations led by former attorney general Eric Holder and board member Arianna Huffington, Uber fired over 20 employees in June 2017. Emil Michael, a senior vice president who suggested digging up dirt on critical journalists, also departed.

In July 2017, Uber received a five-star privacy rating from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but was harshly criticized by the group in September 2017 for tracking customers' locations even after a ride ended, forcing the company to reverse its policy.

A January 2018 report by Bloomberg News stated that Uber routinely used a panic button system codenamed Ripley that locked, powered off and changed passwords on staff computers during government raids. Uber allegedly used this button at least 24 times from spring 2015 until late 2016.

In September 2018, in the largest multi-state settlement of a data breach, Uber paid $148 million to the Federal Trade Commission, admitting its claims about monitoring internal access to consumer data were false and that it failed to provide reasonable security for consumer data.

In 2020, the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against former Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan for obstruction of justice. Sullivan arranged, with Kalanick's knowledge, to pay a ransom for the 2016 data breach disguised as a bug bounty to conceal its true nature.

Image source: Joe Sullivan (cybersecurity)

More than 124,000 internal documents covering 2012 to 2017 when Uber was run by Travis Kalanick were leaked by lobbyist Mark MacGann to The Guardian and first printed on July 10, 2022 by its Sunday sister The Observer.

Image source: Uber Files

On September 15, 2022, Uber discovered a security breach of its internal network by a hacker who utilized social engineering to obtain an employee's credentials and gain access to the company's VPN and intranet.

The use of Greyball in London was cited by Transport for London as one of the reasons for its decision not to renew Uber's private hire operator licence in September 2017.

In August 2018, Uber agreed to pay a total of $7 million to settle claims of gender discrimination, harassment, and hostile work environment, with 480 employees receiving $10,700 each and 56 of them receiving an additional $33,900 each.

In 2019, 8,000 taxi drivers represented by law firm Maurice Blackburn filed a class action lawsuit against Uber in Australia alleging illegal taxi operations, loss of income and loss of value of taxi licenses.

After California Assembly Bill 5 (2019) was passed to force drivers to be classified as employees, Uber announced it would not comply, engaged lobbyists, and mounted a public opinion campaign. Ridesharing companies later received an exemption via 2020 California Proposition 22.

Image source: California Assembly Bill 5 (2019)

In March and May 2019, the 2019 Lyft and Uber drivers' strikes led by Rideshare Drivers United protested low wages, long hours, working conditions, and lack of benefits.

In April 2021, an arbitrator ruled against Uber in a case involving Lisa Irving, a blind American customer with a guide dog who was denied rides on 14 separate occasions. In 2021, an arbitrator also awarded $1.1 million to a visually impaired passenger denied rides 14 separate times.

In February 2023, thousands of drivers for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash went on strike in the US and UK to protest wages and fees.

In January 2024, Uber was fined €10 million by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for violating privacy regulations pertaining to the personal data of its drivers.

In February 2024, a multidistrict litigation was established in the Northern District of California against Uber Technologies, Inc., consolidating numerous claims from among more than 3,000 sexual assault lawsuits filed against the company in state and federal courts.

In August 2024, Uber was fined €290 million by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for transferring the personal data of European drivers to US servers in breach of the GDPR.

In 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1340 into law, which gave rideshare drivers the right to collectively bargain with rideshare companies despite their classification as independent contractors rather than employees.

In April 2025, the FTC sued Uber, alleging that it enrolled some customers in the $9.99 monthly Uber One service without their consent and used unlawful tactics to make cancellation difficult for consumers.

Image source: Federal Trade Commission

In August 2026, Uber was fined €825 million by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems, while also not informing users adequately of the deactivation.

In September 2020, Uber committed to carbon neutrality globally by 2040, and required that by 2030, in most countries, rides must be offered exclusively in electric vehicles.

The company posted its first operating profit in 2023.

Also in July 2025, Uber invested over $300 million in Lucid Motors and Nuro and announced the purchase of Lucid Gravity vehicles to develop a robotaxi service.

Image source: Lucid Motors

In September 2025, Uber announced the launch of air taxi and seaplane flights in certain markets in partnership with Joby Aviation.

Image source: Joby Aviation

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company had a take rate (revenue as a percentage of gross bookings) of 29.9% for mobility services and 19.2% for food delivery. Uber coordinates an average of 42 million trips and delivery orders per day, with 72 billion coordinated since inception in 2010.

In February 2026, Uber launched the Uber Autonomous Solutions division to handle its operations in robotaxis, self-driving trucks, and sidewalk delivery robots, including software and support services.

In March 2026, Uber agreed to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of a deal to deploy up to 50,000 robotaxis through 2031. Also in March 2026, Uber partnered with Nvidia to use Nvidia Drive software in its robotaxis.

Image source: Rivian