Uber’s human drivers are mapping out the system ahead of self-driving cars

Uber built a following quickly because it was cheap and easy to book - if only its drivers weren't protesting against their treatment

There is a distinct but now amusing memory I have from a little over seven years ago of looking through all the apps in the iPhone app store, which was then brand spanking new. It seems unfathomable now, but in late 2008 apps were very far from the mainstream, and lacking the imagination and ubiquity of today. The success and pervasiveness of mobile computing, symbiotically, helped popularise them. And arguably the most successful app of all is Uber - now the most valuable private company in the world worth currently (and imminent verge-of-tech-crash status notwithstanding) $62.5bn.

Uber started with an itch that needed to be scratched - that taxi cabs in San Francisco were unreliable and expensive. It built a following because suddenly there was another option that was cheaper, more frequent and easier to book. Uber has its own problems, from a customer point of view; I've had Uber rides where the driver got lost and I had to navigate him through the city, and also a ride that cancelled on me after making me wait 45 minutes in the arse end of nowhere.