Uber marches toward an IPO in 2019
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is trying to get all his ducks in a row.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi took over leadership of the company in August 2017.
Uber is doubling down on transportation as it prepares to go public in 2019.
The company's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said Tuesday that he plans for Uber to one day become ubiquitous on city streets and roads around the world.
"We're less than 1 percent of miles driven on the road," Khosrowshahi said at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "I think we'll be 20 to 30 percent."
Khosrowshahi took over the helm at Uber in August 2017 after years of tumult under the company's former CEO and co-founder, Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi said his focus right now is on "movement." He said he wants to work on improved working conditions for drivers, a better company culture and safety for riders and drivers.
"This year we're going to issue a 'Safety Score Card,'" Khosrowshahi said. "It's looking overall at our platform, essentially putting the safety statistics out there. We want that to be a marker for the transportation industry."
Uber now serves 15 million rides or food deliveries per day and is in about 70 countries. It launched dockless rentable bicycles in April and electric scooters just last week. And Uber is the highest valued venture backed private company in the world, with a valuation of $72 billion. Even though the company isn't yet profitable, Khosrowshahi said its core business model of providing rides and food delivery is solid.
"Movement is something you do every day. Eating is something you do three times a day," Khosrowshahi said. "We suffer from having too much opportunity as a company."
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