Attorneys. No matter what, make sure you have an attorney on retainer. People sue and get sued, and businesses have much more exposure to a lot more and varied types of people. If you're an even moderate business success, you'll be getting calls from lawyers or you'll be getting someone who tries to skirt your policy based on a loophole in your TOS/AUP/etc. Lawyer up. If you don't have the money for a lawyer to review your business with you, you're putting yourself and your customers at a risk that many would deem unacceptable.

You protect yourself by having proactive policies (e.g. Über will do well for themselves to show the extent of their background checks and driver training), business insurance and legal representation.

It seems there's an attitude that startups that are "disrupting" don't play by the same rules as "traditional" businesses. (See the many discussions re Uber and AirBnB as they relate to local regulations) Business can be a very scary place, with risk - even when it has nothing to do with your company, PR association can be a killer. Situations like this are careful reminders that it takes more than a MacBook Air, 5 Hour Energy, and six weeks at an incubator desk to launch a successful business.

Yes, lawyer up, but I think many of these comments are missing the true lesson here.

You need to take the proper precautions. Uber's screening of their drivers is laughable. Regulations don't exist solely to make your life miserable, and hopefully this incident, true or not, gives them the shock they need to understand their problem. While I appreciate what Uber's service is trying to accomplish, sacrificing safety is not the kind of "disruption" this industry needs.

Given the driver was not employed by Uber, but employed by a limo company that uses Uber's technology...

"Craigslist rapists" aren't employees of Craigslist either, yet there's still the negative stigma.

Lawyer up, big time.