news Unions accuse Uber of racist software to remove drivers via face recognition

A group of Uber drivers have protested outside Uber’s London offices in support of a legal claim against the firm’s automated face recognition software, which unions claim is a “racist algortithm”.

The protest was in support of an unnamed Uber driver of BAME origin, who lost his job when automated face-scanning software failed to recognise him. The driver has filed an employment tribunal claim alleging his account was illegally deactivated when the software decided he was not who he said he was.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is backing the action, and claims at least 35 other drivers have had their registration with Uber terminated as a result of alleged mistakes with the software since the start of the pandemic.

The software, which has been used by Uber since April 2020, has been developed by Microsoft, and the software giant has previously admitted that it is not as effective in recognising black or Asian faces as it is with white faces.

Uber strongly refutes the claim that its software is “racist” and said there were two manual human reviews prior to any decision to remove a driver. “The system is fair and important for the safety of our platform,” Uber said in a statement. It has also said anyone removed from the platform could appeal against the decision.

In London, nine out of 10 private hire drivers are black or black British, Asian or Asian British, or of mixed race, according to a recent survey by TfL.

“Uber’s continued use of a facial recognition algorithm that is ineffective on people of colour is discriminatory. Hundreds of drivers and couriers who served through the pandemic have lost their jobs without any due process or evidence of wrongdoing,” said Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the IWGB.

Uber is facing further similar claims in cases being brought by the App Drivers & Couriers Union. One driver, Imran Javaid Raja, who was dismissed in October 2020 after failing an Uber facial recognition test, then had his licence revoked by TfL for a month. Uber admitted it had made a mistake, and the licence was reinstated, but Raja has not been compensated for lost earnings, the union said.

James Farrar, General Secretary of the ADCU, said: “All of the drivers that we’ve represented that have been to the magistrates’ court when they’ve had their licences revoked – we’ve appealed every one of them, and won every one of them.”