Uber Rideshare / Gig Platform (2009)

Class card for the Uber rideshare / gig-economy platform — the canonical DM-Day asset-light transportation marketplace. Founded March 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp as UberCab in San Francisco; iOS app launched July 2010; UberX (non-professional drivers, cheaper rides) launched 2012. The defining structural innovation: driver labor and vehicles kept entirely off Uber's balance sheet via independent-contractor classification, enabling near-zero marginal cost of supply expansion — the canonical DM push motor. Dynamic surge-pricing algorithm constitutes Uber's core OPP: passengers cannot access the urban-mobility market without routing through Uber's pricing and matching layer. International expansion 2011–2014 (Paris, London, Sydney, Beijing). UberEats spun out 2014; Uber Freight 2017. China business sold to Didi August 2016. Travis Kalanick ousted June 2017 after Susan Fowler culture-scandal blog post; Dara Khosrowshahi (ex-Expedia) became CEO August 2017. IPO May 2019 (NYSE: UBER, ~$45/share opening). California AB5 (September 2019) reclassified gig workers as employees; Proposition 22 (November 2020, ~$200M campaign) partially reversed it. UK Supreme Court (Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5): drivers are "workers" not contractors. First profitable year 2023; $37B revenue 2024. Autonomous-vehicle pilots 2024+. V0.2 GAP: tep_phase trajectory frenzy(2009–2014)→turning_point(2014–2019)→synergy not capturable as single field; recorded here. Motor=push per atlas DM-09 seed (VC-subsidized regulatory arbitrage is canonical DM push). dm_current=late_modernity (energetic zombie: massive GMV growth, evolutionary intelligence withdrawing as regulators close gig-labor loopholes). heavy_or_light=light (driver labor + vehicles off-balance-sheet — canonical asset-light DM platform). Sources: Isaac, Super Pumped (2019); Kessler, Gigged (2018); Hill, Raw Deal (2015); Slee, What's Yours Is Mine (2017); UK Supreme Court Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5.