Uber said to use “sophisticated” software to defraud drivers, passengers
I don&#x27;t see the scandal.<p>1) Uber&#x27;s upfront estimate is based on a naive calculation of getting from A -&gt; B. From a software perspective, that makes sense. The consumer hasn&#x27;t even committed to riding, so let&#x27;s just toss out a ballpark figure.<p>2) If the consumer looks at the figure and says, &quot;Yes, that&#x27;s reasonable for transportation from A -&gt; B&quot;, which they indicate by clicking &quot;Request Ride&quot;, then they are agreeing to pay that price for the service.<p>3) The rider can verbally request a different route once in the Uber.<p>4) The driver is paid based on minutes and miles, via some formula that they&#x27;ve agreed to. The rider is charged based on an up-front calculation, which they can decide if it is worth it or not.<p>It sounds like the lawsuit is alleging that the rider is being defrauded by being taken on a different route than the one displayed at time of purchase.<p>I think this is silly because, to my knowledge, everyone taking an Uber is paying for the transportation and not any particular route. I.e. being taken on a specific route isn&#x27;t what the rider is agreeing to pay for. Also, as noted in (3), the rider is always free to change the route.<p><i>Additionally</i> silly because the rider seems to be alleging that they were defrauded by <i>being taken by a more efficient route.</i> There just doesn&#x27;t seem to be any &quot;harm&quot; in what&#x27;s happening here. I can understand the case if the user agreed to go from San Francisco down to San Jose, based on a route straight down the 101 highway, then, once they got in, was driven to San Jose through Los Angeles.