Uber is a frigging service for calling a taxi, how much "R&D" does a mobile app connected to a database need?
Brainstorming new fees to add on to their services that the drivers don’t get a cut of takes up a few billion a year I would imagine.
They spent billions and billions on trying to make self-driving a thing.
Your local taxi company probably has a white-labelled app - that’s the obvious point of comparison.
For the companies in my areas, their apps feel kinda clunky, but are generally fully-functional, and don’t contain ads like the Uber app.