It’s Like Self-Driving Uber, Only You Drive Yourself

A passenger called for an Uber for a ride from the airport, but he wound up having to drive the Uber car himself after the driver showed up drunk.

By nowproducerdave on September 19, 2018
(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

No, it’s not an update to Uber’s self-driving technology, but it is about an Uber ride gone wrong. A guy called an Uber, found out the driver was drunk, so he drove the car himself.

This happened in India. A passenger landed at the airport, and called for an Uber. The car showed up, and it turned out to be a different guy than what the app said. That’s red flag #1, but let’s continue. The passenger, Surya, was Tweeting about the ride as well, so there’s a sort of play-by-play. Surya says that the driver was not just drunk, but near pass-out stage. He managed to get the car/driver pulled over, and took over control of the car. He Tweeted this picture and a quick summary of the ride:

So how did Uber handle it? Well, rather than apologize for the experience, they apparently told Surya that he shouldn’t have driven, because it’s not safe. I guess because he isn’t an Uber-certified driver? Anyway, glossing over that statement, Uber said they would look into the situation. They eventually got back to Surya, saying that they banned that particular driver from using the app.

See also: That time Uber tried to make drunk passengers pass a quiz before getting in the car.

What’s the worst Uber experience you’ve ever had? Was your driver drunk? Was he or she rude, or even abusive? Here’s some more information on the self-driving (sort of) Uber ride.

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