There’s risk in progress, more than in the status quo. But people usually accept the risk for greater rewards. From Tim Bradshaw’s Financial Times profile of Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick, who sees all Camaros, Camrys and Corvettes as potentially being cabs:

“Silicon Valley’s more wide-eyed start-up founders often pitch their ideas as ‘saving the world’ – and genuinely believe that is what they’re doing, however mundane or minute the technical advances. Uber is more nakedly competitive and ambitious. ‘We feel we are very honest and authentic, to the point of being brutally honest,’ Kalanick says with some understatement. ‘Not everyone likes that style, and I get that, but at least we’re trustworthy.’

Nonetheless, many city halls still aren’t sure how to handle Uber, a ‘marketplace’ that owns no cars and employs no drivers – especially when, in 2012, it began to allow anyone with a car and a good driving record to be a makeshift taxi driver. Local authorities challenging this ride-sharing model are often encouraged by actual taxi drivers and their unions, who argue that Uber lacks the proper insurance and has been insufficiently thorough in its background checks.

Uber insists that its insurance is ‘best in class’ and its driver checks ‘among the most stringent in the industry.’ But its record on safety and liability will soon be tested in court. The parents of a six-year-old girl killed in an incident involving an Uber driver on New Year’s eve in San Francisco are suing the company. Uber has denied responsibility because the driver was not carrying a passenger at the time, which means its insurance was not applicable.

This is an extreme case, but Kalanick’s response to legal challenges has typically been hard-nosed; despite the rulings in Brussels and Berlin, the service continues to operate there, he proudly points out. He has earned his reputation as one of Silicon Valley’s most combative operators. ‘I’m a natural born trust-buster,’ he says of his mission to smash the taxi cartels. ‘That’s probably the best way to put it.’

That’s not what many would call Kalanick. He’s more often styled as an ultra-capitalist, not least because of ‘surge pricing,’ where Uber doubles or triples fares during busy periods such as rush hour or in bad weather.”