优步狂妄的是与非 被指逃避社会责任

Uber may be one of the most formidable businesses of our times but it is also something of an ideological piñata, which everyone with a grievance loves to whack.

优步(Uber)可能是当今时代最令人敬畏的企业之一，但它也是有怨气的人都喜欢抨击的某种意识形态公敌。

Those wielding the sticks include taxi drivers who have had their livelihoods undercut; Uber drivers who claim to be exploited; and politicians who complain the ride-hailing company is shirking its social responsibilities and outsourcing its obligations.

那些抡起大棒的人包括生计受到影响的出租车司机；宣称被剥削的优步司机；以及抱怨这家叫车应用公司逃避社会责任、外包自身义务的政客们。

Judges, too, have joined the fray in several jurisdictions.

多个司法管辖地的法官们也加入了抨击行列。

Last month a UK tribunal dismissed Uber’s claims that it did not employ its drivers as ridiculous.

上月，英国一家法庭驳斥了优步关于其与司机不存在雇佣关系的主张，称其荒谬可笑。

That gnarly mood is captured by James O’Brien, a London-based talk radio presenter, who says Uber is like the Frankenstein’s monster of everything that’s gone wrong with modern capitalism.

伦敦谈话类电台主持人詹姆斯.奥布莱恩(James O'Brien)捕捉到了这种不友好的情绪，他说，优步就像是展现现代资本主义所有不对劲之处的‘弗兰肯斯坦的怪物’。

It must count as some kind of perverse achievement for a company to arouse so much anger when it delivers such a popular service around the world every day.

对一家招致如此普遍愤怒的公司而言，每天在世界各地提供如此受人欢迎的服务肯定算得上是某种反常的成就。

Then again Travis Kalanick, Uber’s combative founder, has always loved a good scrap.

但话说回来，优步好斗的创始人特拉维斯.卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)一直喜欢吵架。

I like pissing people off, he once told Fortune.

他曾经向《财富》(Fortune)表示：我就喜欢惹人生气。

In spite of — or perhaps partly because of — the controversy it stirs, Uber has developed at astonishing speed since its creation in 2009.

尽管（或者说在一定程度上正是因为）引起了极大的争议，优步自2009年成立以来以令人震惊的速度发展壮大。

By June Uber’s drivers completed a total of 2bn rides in 450 cities around the world.

到今年6月，优步司机在全球的450座城市完成了总计20亿单生意。

Having attracted funding of about $10bn to finance its expansion, Uber’s implied valuation is close to $70bn, making it the most valuable privately owned start-up.

优步吸引了大约100亿美元的融资以支持其扩张，隐含估值接近700亿美元，使其成为最有价值的私有初创企业。

Uber offers plenty of lessons, both good and bad, for how our sharing economy works in practice.

优步为共享经济在实践中如何运行提供了许多启示，既有好的经验，也有坏的教训。

In its defence, the company argues it is providing exactly what the market wants by satisfying a deep consumer need.

如果要为优步辩护，正如该公司所辩称的，它提供了市场恰恰想要的东西，满足了消费者的深层次需求。

Its app is the means for connecting willing drivers and willing passengers, delivering a seamless service at the lowest cost.

其APP是在愿意提供服务的司机和愿意购买服务的乘客之间牵线搭桥的手段，以最低成本提供了无缝服务。

How Uber has been so successful in expanding around the world will remain the stuff of business school case studies for years, even if the service stumbled in China.

至于优步是怎么会如此成功地在世界各地扩张的，这在今后多年里将是商学院案例研究的课题，即便它在中国遭遇了挫折。

Just think for a minute how diabolically tricky it is to create harmonious two-sided markets from scratch in cities you do not know and in business environments that are often hostile.

你只要想一下，在你不熟悉的城市和往往不友好的商业环境从零开始创建和谐的双边市场，该是多么的错综复杂。

Sign up too many drivers too early and they will quickly grow disillusioned because of a lack of demand.

过早与太多司机签约，他们将会很快因缺乏需求而倍感失望。

Entice too many passengers to use your service before you have enough drivers on the road and they will wait too long and never come back.

在你有足够司机上路之前吸引太多乘客使用你的服务，他们将会因等待时间太长而永远不再使用你的服务。

For sure, Uber has been ruthless in competing with rivals such as Lyft, skirted the law and exploited regulatory arbitrage.

没错，优步与Lyft等对手展开无情竞争，与法律打擦边球，还钻了监管差异的空子。

Its company philosophy has always been to seek forgiveness rather than permission.

其公司哲学始终是寻求原谅而非许可。

But it has championed consumer demands and eroded the power of vested interests in ways that few politicians have dared to do.

但它捍卫消费者需求，撼动既得利益的实力，很少有政客敢这么做。

Uber offers some other societal benefits.

优步还提供了其他社会效益。

It has drawn drivers into the workforce who have previously been socially marginalised, providing a route out of the banlieues in France, for example.

它让本来被社会边缘化的司机进入职场，例如在法国为人们提供了离开贫困的郊区(banlieues)的途径。

It provides its many part-time drivers with the flexibility they crave in the gig economy.

它让许多兼职司机拥有了他们渴望的零工经济的灵活性。

It argues that its carpooling services reduce the total number of trips made, thereby cutting congestion and pollution.

它辩称，拼车服务降低了出行总量，从而缓解了交通拥堵和污染。

The unnerving thing is that Uber may have only just begun.

令人不安的是，优步可能只是刚刚起步。

It is now pioneering driverless car rides in Pittsburgh and is even investing in flying cars.

它正在匹兹堡试运行无人驾驶汽车载客，甚至还投资于飞天车。

It has always stressed that it is a technology platform rather than a transport company, a real-time logistics network that can apply its expertise to many new market opportunities.

优步总是强调，它是一个技术平台而非一家运输公司，是一个实时物流网络，能够将其技术专长应用于许多新的市场机遇。

The company is moving so fast that it is likely to outpace pursuing politicians and regulators.

优步行动迅速，政客和监管者很可能赶不上它的步伐。

Its greatest threat may yet come from the market that its founders so revere.

该公司面临的最大威胁可能还是来自其创始人尊崇的市场。

So long as humans remain useful to its business model, Uber could be vulnerable to a competitive backlash.

只要人类依然对其商业模式有用，优步就容易遭受竞争反弹。

For the moment, Uber’s low-cost structure and flexibility results from its arm’s-length relationship with its drivers.

就目前而言，优步的低成本结构和灵活性源于与司机保持距离。

But that strength may one day prove a flaw.

但这种优势有朝一日可能被证明是个缺陷。

There is little to stop those drivers defecting to rivals who offer them a better deal.

优步没什么办法阻止那些司机投奔提供更好待遇的竞争对手。

One such company, the New York-based Juno, is building its business model around being an anti-Uber, promising its drivers a bigger slice of the take and quasi-equity.

总部位于纽约的Juno就是这样的一家公司，该公司正在围绕反优步理念打造自己的业务模式，向司机们承诺更大提成比例并提供准股权。

At present, it is a speck in Uber’s rear mirror but it could presage the intensification of some real competition.

就目前而言，该公司是优步后视镜上的小斑点，但它可能预示着某种真正竞争的加剧。

If Uber is abusing its market dominance, as its critics contend, rivals can take advantage.

如果优步像批评者说的那样滥用其市场主导地位，竞争对手就会有机可乘。

The insolent mindset that has served Uber so well as an insurgent may yet fail it as an incumbent.

当优步还是挑战者的时候，狂妄一些会有很好的效果，然而在该公司已经是老牌企业的情况下，狂妄心态可能导致它走向失败。