To say that Uber has had a tough year feels like a bit of an understatement. From a leadership shakeup to a self-driving tragedy, there has been plenty to distract from Uber’s main mission — moving folks from Point A to Point B. But be that as it may, the transportation giant has proven that when it comes to giving people rides, its eye is still very much on the prize. As of last month, Uber has completed more than 10 billion trips. And given that the company only got its start in 2010, that’s a pretty impressive milestone.
“On Sunday, June 10, 173 trips and deliveries started simultaneously at 10:12 p.m. GMT, putting us over 10 billion completed trips,” the company announced in a blog post.
These trips reflect the global presence of Uber, as the company relied on drivers in more than 21 countries across five continents in order to reach the milestone. “Latin America took the top spot for most simultaneous trips on a continent,” Uber wrote. “And a few lucky eaters across five countries were munching on McDonald’s, noodles, sushi, burgers and tacos at the time.”
Underscoring just how much data Uber really has about these trips, the company further noted that the shortest of these 173 trips was a half-mile Uber Eats delivery, while the longest was a 41-mile trip to the airport in Denver. And as ubiquitous as Uber seems, it’s clearly not yet used by everyone — five riders were on their first-ever Uber trip.
We should note that the 10-billion trips figure includes both hailed rides and deliveries completed by Uber Eats. Uber is still well ahead of the competition. Lyft, the company’s chief rival in the United States, only hit 500 million rides last October.
Last year, Uber hit 5 billion trips, which makes its latest milestone particularly impressive. Even as Uber has faced crackdowns due to regulators and increasing competition in Europe and in Asia, it would appear that the service is still growing rapidly.
Still, Uber is facing quite a few challenges both at home and abroad. It was recently discovered that the Uber safety driver responsible for the vehicle that fatally struck a pedestrian in Arizona was watching Hulu moments before the crash. it also remains to be seen if Uber will be able to regain its license in London.
But controversy-ridden or not, Uber is clearly still giving out plenty of rides.
