Both driver and passenger think they know the full truth of the matter for the financial transaction they're agreeing to, but they don't. There's implicit dishonesty in that, and when you combine dishonesty with money we call it 'fraud' usually.
But let's set aside the question of whether it was legal. Was it moral?
Software like this doesn't fall from the sky- management approved it, software teams wrote it, maintain it and system tests probably exist to validate it works... how do those developers feel okay about this? How do they not feel like they're cheating people out of money? When your Mom hears about it, and asks if you were part of it will you spend 20 minutes giving a long-winded answer about how it was actually not a bad thing? That's a bad sign, man.
I'm reminded of the scene from 'Clerks' discussing Contractors[0]
If we're talking morality, then let's remember that Uber has been very lacking in that area for many years now; they also don't mind, and they're pretty open about them not minding. So from that point of view, nothing new really happened here. It's same old Uber, doing same old shitty and exploitative things to people.
But let's set aside the question of whether it was legal. Was it moral?
Software like this doesn't fall from the sky- management approved it, software teams wrote it, maintain it and system tests probably exist to validate it works... how do those developers feel okay about this? How do they not feel like they're cheating people out of money? When your Mom hears about it, and asks if you were part of it will you spend 20 minutes giving a long-winded answer about how it was actually not a bad thing? That's a bad sign, man.
I'm reminded of the scene from 'Clerks' discussing Contractors[0]
[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQdDRrcAOjA