Phone Battery Low? Uber May Charge More For Cab Ride

New Delhi: In a shocking study, it has been found that Uber hikes its fare when a person is booking a cab from a mobile phone whose battery is low.

The ride-hailing company, which operates around the world, has been accused of charging 6% additional fare for a journey made on a smartphone with only 12% battery remaining compared to the same journey made on a phone with 84% charged battery.

The study, conducted by Belgian newspaper Dernière Heure in Brussels, involved two identical requests from and to the same location. The phone with 84% battery was charged 16.60 Austrian shilling (ATS), while the other phone with 12% battery was charged 17.56 ATS.

Difference in fare has previously been noticed while booking cabs using iOS and Android phones. This discrepancy only adds to Uber’s strange system.

Uber, however, has denied fixing fares depending on the level of battery charge in a user’s phone.

In a statement, Uber said that its pricing is determined by existing demand for rides and supply of drivers who can respond at that point.

“Uber does not take into account the phone’s battery level to calculate the price of a trip. The dynamic pricing applied to trips booked via Uber is determined by the existing demand for rides and the supply of drivers who can respond to it,” Uber said in a statement to Dernière Heure.