Google removes app for reviewing payment to Uber drivers

A helpful tool that gave Uber drivers a peace of mind that their pay is calculated fairly is no longer available on the Google Play Store.

The creator of the UberCheats app, which told drivers if Uber underpaid them for a ride, said on Thursday the app had been removed from the Google Play Store.

It comes after the ride-sharing service claimed a trademark infringement. “Uber filed a false trademark claim against UberCheats; so it’s been taken off the Chrome app store,” creator Armin Samii said in a tweet.

Uber’s claim, according to Samii, also asserts that customers may confuse it with “an actual Uber product.”

Uber did not immediately return a request for comment on the app’s removal.

Samii’s app simply looked at the actual miles calculated during a ride.

He told Vice in a Thursday story he assumes the company uses a “straight line distance,” instead of the actual distance traveled.

That can leave drivers shortchanged on payments for their rides at times, and Uber admitted to underpaying drivers in New York City back in 2017. The company refunded the affected drivers to remedy the situation.

Samii himself was an UberEats driver and said he got the idea after he ran into the exact issue UberCheats addressed during a delivery.

He told Vice he wasn’t upset over the few bucks he missed out on, but instead, realised it was happening to thousands of drivers and delivery people across the US.

He further explained to the publication that he had no plan on relaunching the app with a new name to skirt what he called the “false trademark claim.” Instead, he said he planned to fight to use the UberCheats name.

-MSN Autos