Uber and Lyft, the two most popular ride-hailing companies in the U.S., routinely charge different customers significantly different prices for the same rides, a monthslong Consumer Reports investigation has found.
The way Uber uses algorithms and AI to change prices makes it near-impossible for consumers to comparison shop or understand why a friend standing nearby might receive an entirely different price, experts say.
“Now they’re going further and attacking the idea of a reference price,” says Katie Wells, a senior fellow at the nonprofit AI Now Institute who assisted CR with the testing methodology for this investigation. “Fake discounts feel creepy and exhausting in the moment. How can we ever know if we’re getting a deal?”
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