Uber's Goal

It's been at least two weeks since I wrote about Uber, so here goes, again! As you know, we have been accumulating Uber shares for Vestact customers since their rather muted listing on the 10th of May. The share price has been idling at around $44 per share.

Everyone thinks of them as a ride-hailing service, which is because people use "uber" as a verb for when you'd rather not use your own car. But Uber has greater ambitions. If you think about it, Uber's core expertise is in matching supply and demand on a cloud-based digital platform built for ride-hailing, and a seamless payment system. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said recently, "We don't just want to be the Amazon of transportation, but also the Google of transportation."

Say you want to go from central London to Heathrow Airport. The app would display multiple options for your journey, each with an estimated time of arrival and different price. Of course their one-click payment solution would be used for all options. They are working hard to get bus and train companies to allow ticket purchases through the app.

In concentrated cities, options like scooters and e-bikes work well. Work on driverless cars is ongoing, in partnership with Volvo. Business transportation is another growth opportunity, as is Uber Eats. Health care companies use Uber Health to collect patients for appointments, or instead of calling ambulances. Uber Freight matches shippers with carriers.

Passenger drones or helicopters are also on the list. Uber Air is the name for its planned flying taxi network that is set to start trials next year in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Melbourne. Uber is about to launch a piloted helicopter service between lower Manhattan and JFK airport for around $200, which is about the cost of a premium Uber Black car ride. I've used those already, so I'm game. Once you are a shareholder, you want to support the business even more.