Agreed. I found the article's body did not support its thesis for two main reasons: 1) The scenarios in which Uber becomes worth 17B or more based simply on it

Agreed. I found the article's body did not support its thesis for two main reasons: 1) The scenarios in which Uber becomes worth 17B or more based simply on its role in the transportation market didn't seem all that unlikely to me. 2) As you mentioned -- the probability of Uber becoming a major force in Logistics/driverless cars/etc. They've got Google behind them after all and many figure that's the end game -- myself included. It's unfortunate whenever a somewhat reputable outfit like 538 feels the need to clickbait by taking a contrarian position, but then again. I took the bait. Well played, 538.