*By Bridgette Webb* Dara Khosrowshahi marked his first anniversary as Uber's CEO by addressing ride safety on Wednesday at an event in New York City, where he debuted a string of new features. It's the latest in a series of changes the relatively-new chief has introduced after a cascade of PR nightmares that pushed founder CEO Travis Kalanick out the door. But Andrew Hawkins, transportation reporter for The Verge, said there's still serious work to be done, and chief among those efforts should be plans to stop harassment. "In terms of Uber's internal culture over the last 12 months or so, there is still issue with harassment, employees feeling that top-level executives aren't responding to issues of racial and gender harassment," Hawkins said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar. "It's not clear that \[Khosrowshahi's\] main task of righting the ship, correcting Uber's toxic work culture, has been a 100 percent success." Among the features Khosrowshahi unveiled Wednesday was an emergency button for drivers in case of an accident and a hands-free way to interact with the app while driving. Drivers in 39 states will also now have the ability to start an insurance claim through the app. The updates come as the company is prepping for an IPO, which Khosrowshahi said is on track for next year. Uber recently selected Nelson Chai, who as a former banker and New York Stock Exchange exec is well-versed in the IPO process, as its new CFO. The position had been vacant for almost three years. Joshua Franklin, private equity and IPO correspondent for Reuters, said it's very likely that Uber will make it to market by its intended goal, but it might not get there before chief U.S. rival Lyft. "From a Lyft perspective, you can get out front and tell your story. You do get a chance to define the market," Franklin in a separate interview on Cheddar Wednesday. He added that the criteria for a ride-sharing company's success is still undetermined. "No one knows what the performance metrics are going to be for ride-sharing," he said. "Someone can come out and say it needs to be dollars per ride or repeat visits per ride, per customer." For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ubers-path-to-an-ipo).

Share:
More In Business
Tech leader who navigated the internet’s 90s crash weighs in on AI
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Tesla sales jump after months of boycotts
Tesla reported a surprise increase in sales in the third quarter as the electric car maker likely benefited from a rush by consumers to take advantage of a $7,500 credit before it expired on Sept. 30. The company reported Thursday that sales in the three months through September rose 7% compared to the same period a year ago. The gain follows two quarters of steep declines as people turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics avoided buying his company’s cars and even protested at some dealerships. Sales rose to 497,099 vehicles, compared with 462,890 in the same period last year.
Load More