The case in SF/Tenderloin (fatality) right now is specifically exploring that period where the driver is in between rides but logged on and using the app at that time of the accident. I am curious to see how the courts view that one.
I do believe the public safety/insurance issue is going to very much change their business model over the next year or so, probably due to demands placed on it by the cities they operate in.
I don't think this is a bad thing: it will have the effect of causing city councils and cab companies to re-think their business model and it will probably improve it overall for customers. Inexplicably, cab companies seem to have been stuck in a 1960s operation.