- So Uber is making some changes to its app.

- This is the beginning and not the end

of our moving to really think of Uber

as the operating system for your city life.

- It sounds good, but it's not exactly ground breaking.

Uber is moving things around inside the app.

Streamlining it.

Making it easier to us.

And they're also adding some things,

like public transportation, which makes sense

when you consider what Uber's ultimate goal is.

Now for years, Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi

has been saying that he wants Uber

to become the

- Amazon for transportation.

- [Andrew] And now they're finally making it happen.

When we sat down with Khosrowshahi recently

to talk about some of these new details exclusively

and he also walked us through some of the challenges

that Uber's facing too.

He let us take the new app out for a spin,

which we did on a subway.

(upbeat music)

- Then you can go down see routes and it says leaves

in two, five, eight minutes.

It's a six minute walk.

Shows you where to walk to get to the station.

- That looks good.

- Should we roll?

- That looks good.

Let's do it.

- Let's do it.

- [Andrew] Do you think this is a better experience

than your Google maps, your city mapper?

- It's a comparable experience, but ultimately it's better

because you have all of your choices here.

It's Amazon product search versus, let's say,

Google product search.

Because we're so focused on city transportation,

which is where the majority of our business is.

Because we're so focused about the complete experience.

It's not just information, but ultimately we want

to integrate information that allows you to take action

and purchase this transit option.

- Uber doesn't want to just be an app.

It wants to be a platform for every mode

of urban transportation you could possibly think of.

Even if it's not making money off of some of those modes.

You see, the more stuff that Uber can cram into its app,

like bikes and scooters and buses and subway,

the better chance it has to squeeze money out

of all that engagement.

- [Dara] To some extent, we're competing against ourselves.

- You're not making money off of this, so why offer it?

- One, it's the right thing to do.

It's the right solution for the consumer.

Usually if you aim at the best solution for the consumer,

you'll win longterm.

Second, we have seen experimentally that increases

in engagement with app.

That more people they wake up.

They use the app more often.

And if more people are opening our app more often,

then there will be business down the road.

We'll be able to monetize that one way or the other.

- [Andrew] Of course, Lyft offers a lot of the same things

in its app.

And Uber's a lot bigger than Lyft and operates in cities

outside of the US, but in the US drivers work for both apps.

And sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference

between both apps.

Now Uber used to say it wanted to compete

with public transportation, but now it's changing

its tune and says it wants to compliment,

not kill transit.

But it's not so simple.

There have been a number of studies over the years

that show that Uber has been leading to a decrease

in ridership on public transportation.

And that can lead to things like lossed revenue

and service cuts.

Now Uber can say it wants to put public transportation

on an equal footing with Uber X and that could help shift

more customers to buses and trains.

Or it could have the opposite effect

and accelerate the decline of public transportation.

- Ultimately whether or not our users choose transit

or rides, et cetera, I can't predict.

You know, transit has competition anyway, but we

with data, we wanna make sure that transit data

is available to all the users and we think we can be a

constructive part of transit growing over a long period

of time.

We wanna integrate ticketing.

Right now we only have information, but over a period

of time, we'll integrate ticketing.

So that the experience that you can have taking transit

is just as delightful as the experience that you can have

taking a ride as well.

- Now there's more to the app than just

public transportation.

Uber's adding new firewalls to help improve safety

and regain people's trust.

Now there's a new pin verification system that riders

can opt into, so they don't accidentally get

into the wrong car.

You can text 911 from in the app, in case you need

emergency services.

And your phone will get a notification if you get dropped

off near a bike lane, so you don't accidentally

door someone.

Now Uber is in the news a lot these days for reasons

entirely separate from its app.

The company lost $5 billion last quarter, which is a record

for the chronically unprofitable company.

Cities are being overrun with car congestion

and Uber is partly to blame.

And California is on the cusp of forcing Uber

to reclassify its drivers as employees, rather than

contractors, which could blow up the company's entire

business model.

Meanwhile, Uber sued New York City for the second time

this year over new rules and restrictions on ride hailing.

Cities and states across the country are cracking down

on Uber and Democratic presidential candidates,

who are talking tough about the tech industry

and wanting to improve driver's lives are cheering them

on from the sidelines.

- My concern is that the politicians right now are playing

to a reactive base, which ultimately

is not a better solution,

for society and definitely not for our drivers

and not for our riders.

- And Uber is still growing, just a lot slower than people

were expecting.

And the challenges it faces are a lot more existential

than the ones it faced in the past.

There are some who think that Uber will just keep

losing money until it eventually goes out of business.

Now whether Uber becomes the Amazon of transportation

like Khosrowshahi predicts will depend a lot

on how that future turns out.

What does Uber look like in five years, do you think?

- You're gonna use us to get to places.

You're gonna use us to get packages.

You're gonna use us to have your food and I think we

will be seen as an incredibly valuable partner

for cities everywhere.

Is there jaywalking allowed?

- Oh yes.

- Is this like true - Oh yes it's encouraged.

- Is it like true New York or like fake New York?

- It's encouraged.

All right, there we go.

I used to live her so, if I don't jaywalk

(laughs)

I feel weird.

I feel odd.

- Yeah, exactly.

You're not true New Yorker unless you're jaywalking.