Ride-hailing company Uber has been accused of raising fares if a person’s phone battery is low. A small study by Belgian newspaper Dernière Heure found that Uber charged 6 percent more for a trip on a smartphone with only 12 percent battery left, compared to the same trip on a phone with 84 percent battery left. Although we have seen differences in charges when booking using iOS and Android phones, this claim is shocking.
The study was conducted in the city of Brussels. A booking was made through two mobile phones to visit the same place. A phone with 84 percent battery was charged €16.60 per trip, while another phone with 12 percent battery was charged €17.56.
Uber says no
However, Uber has denied allegations that it determines fares based on the battery level of a user’s phone. In a statement to Dernière Heure, Uber said its pricing is determined by the existing demand for rides and the supply of drivers who can respond. The company said that the phone’s battery level is not taken into account when calculating the cost of a trip.
“Uber does not take into account the battery level of the phone to calculate the cost of the trip. The dynamic pricing applied to trips booked through Uber is determined by the existing demand for rides and the supply of responsive drivers,” the company said.
Not the first time
It’s not fair that Uber is accused of setting prices based on the battery level of a user’s phone. In an interview with NPR in 2016, the company’s former head of economic research, Keith Chen, said that when a phone’s battery capacity is low, prices are inflated.
Experts have raised concerns about the ethics of using personal data such as battery level to determine prices. Using this data could be considered an invasion of privacy, and it raises questions about the transparency of Uber’s pricing policies. Additionally, some customers may feel victimized if they are overcharged because their phone battery is low.