Uber To Repay Customers' Tips As Drivers Launch War Against Company’s Self-Driving Program

Uber is is going to repay riders the tips that were charged to them when they used the transportation service after U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen reportedly gave the green light to the deal that would compel the San Francisco-based company to do so.

The Verge has learned that to settle the claim, Uber is repaying 47,000 customers with tips amounting to $384,000. The claim exposes the shady practice of Uber charging a 20 percent tip for its drivers but not giving the full amount to the latter. For over a year, Uber has earned $860,000 from the gratuity charge.

While this claim has been settled, Chen is to once again preside over another lawsuit by a class of drivers against Uber. The drivers are claiming that the company misclassified them as independent contractors. This class suit actually reached a $100 million settlement five months ago, but Chen rejected it in August saying that the settlement was not fair and that it was inadequate.

Facing lawsuits is not new to Uber as the company is a common target of legal disputes; however, none of the suits filed against it have gone to trial so far because the company is willing to settle cases rather than expose anything that could damage it in trial, as pointed out by The Verge.

Meanwhile, drivers for the company launched Wednesday their war against Uber’s new self-driving car program, which the ride-hail company claims to be its step forward in transportation. The pilot program has already begun in Pittsburgh and it could reach other cities soon.

Because of this driverless program, Uber drivers fear that they could lose their jobs to software-running cars in the near future. Therefore, Uber drivers have announced their disapproval of the pilot program, MarketWatch reports.

“We don’t expect Uber to move to driverless cars in New York City anytime soon, but they can expect we would launch an aggressive campaign, the likes of which they have yet to see, to halt such a move,” said jim Conigliaro Jr., the founder of the Independent Drivers Guild.

Conigliaro added that they would “aggressively fight” to keep New York City’s laws against driverless cars in place in the wake of Uber’s desire to bring its driverless service to customers.