On the "join" section of their website, Uber makes a pitch to would be drivers by saying

"UBER NEEDS PARTNERS LIKE YOU.
Drive with Uber and earn great money as an independent contractor. Get paid weekly just for helping our community of riders get rides around town..."

So this is how Uber treats a "partner". They get rid of you as soon as they can, after asking you to join them. The many uber drivers that joined is what has made Uber grow to create a profitable company. If Uber was this close to deploying robotic drivers, then why not just wait until they can do that to launch their company? In fact, even now that they have announced robotic driver are coming within a week, they are still advertising for human drivers on their website. Their pitch even says, "help your community". Uber doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word community. In a community , we look out for one another.