you're right that uber's primary market power is over their labor force and that they can extract maximum surplus wrt drivers. however they have no power over r

you're right that uber's primary market power is over their labor force and that they can extract maximum surplus wrt drivers. however they have no power over riders since they don't have a defensible competitive strategy (they compete primarily on cost rather than on differentiated value). that also means that barriers to entry are relatively low (e.g., uber in china and india). but that isn't even the biggest challenge for uber. they want to own global last mile logistics (not just people delivery) and that puts them in direct competition with large established corporations like fedex, ups, amazon and walmart, who won't simply roll over and let them dominate that space. people like to bring up self-driving cars as a strategy, but that's at least 10 years out, so it's a distraction at best. at worst, it also widens their competitive landscape to include all the global auto makers. uber is by no means a monopoly yet and is in fact still struggling to earn a seat at the big kids' table.