A California experiment put seven Uber and Lyft drivers in one room and compared upfront pay offers for identical rides.
More Perfect Union, working with The Rideshare Guy’s Sergio Avedian in West Hollywood, had drivers open apps together with screen recording. Uber showed the same ride 46 times; in 63% of those cases at least one driver was offered less (average gap about 12 cents when amounts differed). Lyft differed on 31 of 32 shared offers, with an average high–low gap of $1.54 and larger spreads after bonuses. The outlets frame it as evidence of algorithmic wage discrimination under upfront pricing. Treat the findings as an investigative test, not a regulator ruling.