Great commentary Andy. I noticed a lot of these same driver-side issues. My experience has been that most of the Uber X drivers I get (in SF and NYC) are recent immigrants and are happy to be having a job- even if it is less than ideal. This contributes to the huge driver churn that Uber has. I don’t this is an existential problem for the company though. I would wager that Travis views human drivers as just a temporary solution to the global transportation problem.

So even though Uber may churn through tons of drivers, in the long-run this isn’t an issue since once self-driving cars are realized, human drivers won’t be necessary. Travis has alluded to this and I think Uber’s purchase of CMU’s robotics department shows he is actively striving towards a self-driving car.