In a study that analyzed census data and more than 100 million ride-sharing trips in Chicago, researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC found that Uber and Lyft are using algorithms that discriminate against passengers traveling to non-white neighborhoods, Salon reports.
The study’s authors, Aylin Caliskan and Akshat Pandey, found that the ride-sharing companies charged a higher price-per-mile when the destination or pick-up point was in minority neighborhoods, low-income areas, or the area had a higher percentage of high-education residents.
“Unlike traditional taxi services, fare prices for ride-hailing services are dynamic, calculated using both the length of the requested trip as well as the demand for ride-hailing services in the area,” the authors explained.
“While demand and speed have the highest correlation with ride-hailing fares, analysis shows that users of ride-hailing applications in the city of Chicago may be experiencing social bias with regard to fare prices when they are picked up or dropped off in neighborhoods with a low percentage of individuals over 40 or a low percentage of individuals with a high school diploma or less,” the authors concluded.
In fact, the study makes clear that speed and demand have the highest correlation with algorithmically generated fares and that individual demographic data is neither available to rideshare companies nor used in the algorithms that determine pricing,” Lyft representatives said in a statement released to Salon.
