They probably felt comfortable taking a loss while they expanded more on these subsidized prices. As long as they don't get involved in harassment claims and theft of a competitors IP they should be in a strong position to start raising prices....

I would conclude that Uber is spending extra money to expand the market just as Amazon took losses to expand their market. They don't need to raise prices, but eventually reduce overhead per ride.

They really don't. Uber represents itself as profitable for Uber drivers, but this is only true in the short-term. When you factor in car maintenance and depreciation etc, the "profits" that Uber shows you essentially go out the window. It's equivalent to selling a tiny bit of your car's value.

If Uber raised their prices, the average real value would drop from its current real value of $2/hr, to...

Hell if I know, but it could well be negative.