Uber CEO went undercover as driver for months. What he learned

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has told The Wall Street Journal that he spent months undercover as an Uber driver and delivery agent to better understand and address the problems they face. Starting September 2021, Khosrowshahi spent months ferrying riders and dropping off UberEats orders in San Francisco. During his time as an undercover Uber driver, the CEO of the ride hailing service was punished by the app for rejecting rides, was tip-baited by customers and faced several other challenges that helped him understand the issues that drivers face.

Dara Khosrowshahi used his experience as an undercover driver to implement several changes at Uber.

Uber began to face a shortage of drivers in the US after the economy began to reopen in 2021, the WSJ report explained. The pandemic-fuelled labour shortage meant that for the first time ever, the ride hailing service had more riders than people willing to drive them around.

At the same time, Khosrowshahi was under pressure from investors to increase profits. His decision to set aside $250 million as bonuses to attract more drivers was questioned even as Uber struggled to meet the rising demand for cabs and food delivery orders post-pandemic.

Uber knew it needed to do more to attract drivers. The company has been criticised in the past for its unfair treatment of gig workers, and Uber drivers at several locations across the world have demanded better pay and policies. The app design itself has been slammed for being driver-unfriendly.

Khosrowshahi began his stint as an Uber driver by buying a second-hand Tesla and driving under the pseudonym “Dave K.”

He first faced problems with the sign-up process, which was different for gig workers who wanted to drive and workers who wanted to deliver food. The Uber CEO described the sign-up process as “pretty clunky” and Uber later created a single sign-up process. Drivers can now toggle between food delivery and ferrying passengers.

Another – bigger – issue he realised was something that Uber drivers have long complained about. Drivers are not shown the rider’s drop location and estimated pay before they accept a trip. Only a few drivers with high acceptance rates are shown the trip location ahead of time.

“When Mr. Khosrowshahi tried out driving, he rejected some trips and the app punished him by taking away the ability to see destinations ahead of time,” the WSJ report said. “The experience was so frustrating that he asked his team to speed up the timetable for all U.S. drivers to see destinations upfront without any restrictions.”

As a delivery driver, Khosrowshahi was also faced with tip baiting – when customers initially promised a higher tip but paid a lower one after their order was delivered. Uber tried to address the issue by not allowing customers to change the tip amount after delivery, but realised that many customers simply did away with tipping altogether. This is an issue that Uber is still trying to solve.

Still have a long way to go, but getting better day by day #buildwithheart https://t.co/JEhboaLzQl

— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) April 7, 2023

Earlier, Uber believed that if it attracted drivers with money, everything else would work out. The CEO’s experience going undercover has made him realise that the company “had to fundamentally change how we built our product and do it faster than our competition.”