Uber says there are no phantom cars in its in-app map

Fire up its app when you’re stuck for a ride and you’ll be presented with a real-time map, dotted with nearby cars ready to whisk you away.

“If a potential passenger opened up the app and saw no cars around, she might take another cab service”.

When we spoke to Uber, a spokesman said “in the UK, the cars you see on the in-app map are the cars that are physically on the road in your dispatch area”. The phantom cars are non-existent cars showing on the Uber app.

The claim was made by Alex Rosenblat and Luke Stark, a pair of researchers from the Data & Society thinktank.

Even though Uber has denied the existence of the so-called “phantom cars”, its employees reported that the Uber app gives an insight similar to a “screensaver” rather than an actual representation of where the cars are.

Uber has not commented on other allegations in Rosenblat’s piece, including that claim that surge pricing – the company’s controversial practice of increasing the fare during times of high demand – is also based on illusory circumstances.

When contacted for more information about the study, Data & Society told CNNMoney that it plans to publish its findings and methodology in a future paper. The researchers called the phantom cars as “Deceptive” to passengers, in an article for Vice’s Motherboard. According to the spokesperson, the app simply shows there are passengers on the road at the time. The app is like a “Screensaver” of visual effects.

A spokesperson claimed that Uber’s main focus is to display an accurate number of cars and locations.

Drivers can easily linger around a certain busy area, without comprehending completely or correctly that the surge is over, or discovering that already multiple Uber cars are headed into the region.

The vehicle symbols displayed on the app manipulate users to place their order at Uber instead of other companies.

The reason of the “ghost car” issue is due to factors like the desire to maintain a good user experience within the application, driver safety and the concept of latency, whereas if a vehicle is in motion there may be delay in sending its accurate location in real time. Uber added sometimes the app does not show the exact location of the driver until requested.