From the Article: "A spokesperson for Kalanick said the kill switch was “not designed or implemented to obstruct justice”. She said it was used to “protect intellectual property and the privacy of […] customers, and ensure due process rights are respected in the event of an extrajudicial raid”.
His lawyers said because no data was permanently deleted in the process, authorities could still obtain it later."
If a large company installs data onfuscating kill switches in the event of a police raid, it's fair to believe that it's not to protect customer data.
"In a statement, Uber said it had stopped using the kill switch in 2017, when Dara Khosrowshahi replaced Kalanick as chief executive and overhauled its corporate culture."
That sort of thing just makes sense from a security standpoint.