Uber introduces ‘favorite drivers’ and new price displays for California users

Uber’s making some interesting changes in California, but not for the usual reasons apps add new features.

In an email received by customers in the Golden State, the ride-share giant revealed a small handful of new additions to the app. Attributed only to “a new state law,” Uber in California will now display prices differently, allow users to pinpoint preferred drivers, and discontinue some Uber Rewards benefits.

Prices will be displayed as an estimated range rather than a set amount for everything other than Uber Pool rides. You’ll pay what the app calculates based on time and distance traveled at the end of a ride, like a regular taxi cab. 

Aside from that, any driver you rate five stars will become a “favorite driver,” a feature first announced in December. They can choose to give you rides from that point forward if they’re nearby. On the opposite end of the spectrum, anyone you give one star will be banished from your Uber experience entirely. Last and probably least, some rewards benefits like flexible ride cancelling have been axed in California.

Though Uber’s email doesn’t specifically say this, these changes are pretty clearly designed to work around California’s new AB5 law that went into effect with the start of the new year. The idea was to give gig workers better pay and basic benefits that come with being classified as employees rather than independent contractors. 

Uber’s attempts to circumvent AB5 are public knowledge at this point. If the company can prove its workers are truly independent, they don’t need to count as employees, meaning Uber won’t have to pay them more money or offer benefits. Uber has fought to keep its drivers classified as freelancers in court for years. 

While it’s easy to look at AB5 as a victory for those in the increasingly precarious gig economy, its implementation hasn’t been victimless so far. Hundreds of freelance bloggers at SB Nation suddenly lost their jobs in December because of it, for example. 

It remains to be seen if companies that rely on freelance labor will abide by AB5 long-term, or if they’ll continue to find ways not to.