Uber shows phantom cabs on taxi map

You know all those little car icons you see when you open up your Uber app? All those little cabs in close proximity, just waiting to pick you up?

Well, they might be fake. Researchers from think-tank Data & Society said the cars shown to be very close to you could be fake, but the arrival times are still accurate.

According to LBC, employees of think-tank Data & Society wrote: "The presence of those virtual cars on the passenger’s screen does not necessarily reflect an accurate number of drivers who are physically present or their precise locations".

Why would Uber do such a thing in the first place? Apparently so you could better visualize how close the cars really are.

"Instead, these phantom cars are part of a 'visual effect' that Uber uses to emphasize the proximity of drivers to passengers. Not surprisingly, the visual effect shows cars nearby, even when they might not actually exist".

Uber claims that it aims to be as accurate as possible, LBC says, although it’s not always technically possible, while it also wants to protect the safety of the drivers by not revealing their location until a taxi is booked.

A UK spokesman for Uber told Independent: "This is simply not true. The cars you see in the app are the cars on the road".

Alex Rosenblat, a New York-based data researcher who studied how Uber drivers interact with the Uber app, alleges that Uber customers are manipulated by the symbols on their screens, Independent says.

|If a potential passenger opened up the app and saw no cars around, she might take another cab service. But if she saw a cluster of cars seemingly milling around on the same street, she’s more likely to request a ride", wrote Mr Rosenblat, whose research -- funded by Microsoft -- is published on Vice magazine’s Motherboard blog.

"What the passenger app shows can be deceptive", writes Mr Rosenblat, who found that Uber drivers "across multiple forums discuss the fake cars they see on their own residential streets".

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