Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber Technologies, speaks at a launch event in New York, USA, Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Uber plans to give U.S. drivers and couriers a way to earn money through its app when they’re not transporting people or food.
The ride-hailing company announced Thursday that it is launching a pilot with AI Solutions Group that will allow drivers to complete small tasks online. An example Uber cited was “uploading photos to help train AI models,” which the company said is already being tested in India.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the news at the company’s Only on Uber 2025 conference in Washington, DC. Uber is using the event to highlight changes the company is making based on the best suggestions from drivers and couriers.
In prepared remarks, Khosrowshahi said that before making any product or business changes, Uber held “more than 60 crew sessions with more than 100 Uber team members and gathered hundreds of hours of feedback on everything from product design to policy changes.”
Another example of a job drivers can do is “record themselves speaking in a specific language or accent (following instructions),” Uber spokeswoman Megan Casserly said in an email. Casserly said these duties are not related to Uber’s self-driving partnership or the development of self-driving cars.
The reward for a task depends on its complexity and estimated time to complete. Drivers can see how much they will be paid before accepting a job.
This work is Amazon’s mechanical turk, upwork and other data labeling and freelancing platforms. Uber said it does not disclose the names of customers or the nature of specific AI-related projects gig workers may be working on as they complete tasks.
Also on Thursday, Uber announced the official rollout of its Female Rider Priority service, which pairs riders with female drivers. The service, introduced in July, is now available to drivers in Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.
“In markets where it has already been introduced around the world, women drivers have embraced this choice and have used it on more than 100 million trips,” Khosrowshahi said.
All Uber drivers can now set passenger rating preferences to avoid being paired with passengers with low ratings, the company announced Thursday. Drivers can adjust the rider’s minimum rating level for different times of the day or night.
Uber is also launching a so-called “late ride guarantee” for drivers, guaranteeing higher payouts if the ride lasts more than five minutes longer than expected.
“In some cases, the cost could be passed on to the rider,” Casserly said. It depends on whether the trip was delayed due to traffic or other reasons, or if additional stops were added by the passenger.
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