Uber CEO once took his ebike and became Uber driver, realised how his company treated drivers badly

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has never shied away from criticising his company's services. He has often highlighted Uber's shortcomings, most recently at a recent event hosted by GE in Manhattan. At the event, Khosrowshahi shared how he went undercover as an Uber driver to learn about the challenges and "It wasn't a pleasant all-hands with the company," he recalled.

In a recent conversation with Ford CEO Jim Farley at GE's "The Lean Mindset: The Pursuit of Progress,"event in New York, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that he joined the company in 2017 when it was in a "huge crisis moment" and in need of a culture change. He described the company as being tumultuous at the time, with executive resignations, a $4.5 billion annual loss, an investor revolt, and even a #DeleteUber movement, reports Fortune.

Khosrowshahi revealed that things further hit the rock when the Covid-19 pandemic impacted all business worldwide. However, it was during that lockdown, Uber CEO was wanting to go out and decided to became an Uber driver himself and "got an e-bike and started delivering food for Uber."

During his moonlighting, he noticed a lack of quality in the product's (Uber's) delivery aspect. To enhance, he even used his Tesla for the delivery work but yet his experience was rather tiring. Khosrowshahi stated that this experience of being a driver for Uber was both positive and demanding due to the product's complexity. He noticed that most people at Uber cared a lot about riders and eaters, but not as much about the people doing the driving. This was also due to the fact that not many Uber employees drove themselves. This experience of being a driver in the end highlighted to him how Uber was a luxury for riders and customers, but a "hell" for drivers.

Notably, in a past interview, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had have shared his experience as a moonlighting Uber driver "nearly got him killed." But this time, he revealed how he felt being a driver for Uber and how it changed company's future aims. His exploration of the driver's perspective even turned out to be a significant turning point in the company's evolution.

Soon after, Khosrowshahi provided feedback to his engineers on how to enhance the product and began openly sharing his thoughts about it within the company. He culminated this effort with one of the popular presentations titled"Why We Suck," where he shared his findings with the wider Uber team.

He further noted that as a result of his experience as an Uber driver, the company's culture shifted to place a new emphasis on celebrating employees who engaged in deliveries and driving. Khosrowshahi acknowledged that his experience exposed shortcomings in Uber's driver app, and he is still committed to steering the company away from its aggressive past.