Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will remain at the helm of the human cloud, ride-sharing firm amidst the recent storm of controversy and the company plans to make changes to address driver concerns, the company said in a call Tuesday with media. Company leaders discussed leadership and accountability, Uber’s culture and business results.

“Uber must change if it is to be as successful in the next decade as it has been in the last seven years,” said board member Arianna Huffington. “And second, as I told employees a few weeks back, creating a great culture will be key to their future success. Going forward, there can be no room at Uber for brilliant jerks and zero tolerance for anything but totally respectable behavior in an equitable workplace environment.”

Candidates for a recently announced COO position to help Kalanick are impressive, Huffington said, stating Uber is talking with “truly world-class leaders who have worked in very complex organizations already. And what’s clear is that whatever Uber’s challenges, the best of the best are coming to the table, excited about the company’s potential.”  

Asked twice by reporters, Huffington said she doesn’t expect Kalanick’s position as CEO will be in question, even after attorneys Eric Holder and Tammy Albaran conclude their investigation into former employee Susan Fowler’s claims of sexual harassment and sexism at the company, ReCode reported. “I’m a big proponent of allowing leaders to evolve,” she said. “He has made it clear that this a journey that he takes very seriously and ... is holding himself ultimately responsible,” Huffington said.

Last week, riders in the US took more trips with Uber than ever before, Rachel Holt said in the call. Holt, who runs Uber’s operations and marketing teams in the US and Canada, said the company has grown faster in the first 10 weeks of 2017 than in the first 10 weeks of 2016.

“We are in the fortunate position that the business remains healthy, allowing us the time to focus on all the changes that are necessary,” Holt said, noting that the company is working to bring more “humanity” to the way it interacts with drivers. This includes improving the training of support agents and expanding its network of Greenlight Hubs. Uber is also updating some customer support policies, including:

• When investigating rider complaints, Uber will now take into account driver history. Going forward, someone with three rider complaints but just 100 trips under their belt will be treated differently from a driver who has received three complaints but completed 10,000 trips.
• Give drivers a say in fare adjustments, instead of solely relying on what a rider says. For example, there are times when riders accidentally cancel a trip while they’re actually still on the way to their destination. When this happens, the driver is only paid out up to the point of cancellation, even if they complete the trip. “We had made the bar higher for drivers than riders on fare adjustments. But going forward, we will make sure they are fully compensated for their time,” Holt said.
• In addition to relying solely on rider feedback when suspending a driver — for example, a rider writes in saying that their driver didn’t look like the picture in the app — Uber will use technology like Real-Time ID Check to validate the driver is who they say they are and get them back on the road quickly. This will mean less time off the road for Uber driver partners.