The more obvious motivation that the article doesn't touch on for some reason is that this change is a strategic move to reduce cancellations by drivers. Typica

The more obvious motivation that the article doesn't touch on for some reason is that this change is a strategic move to reduce cancellations by drivers. Typically what would happen is a driver get a request, accept and then find out after the fact that it was sending them to some really far off location that didn't align with their upcoming plans (like going home or another job or whatever) The article mentions that the historic data from California showed that its fears of discrimination were unfounded, so it only makes sense that they would roll this out, since ability to plan ahead has always been a pain point for drivers. Uber has historically backtracked on a bunch of things it once considered taboo, most notably tips and cash fares. So really no surprise that they're trying this as an attempt to improve drivers' life. If you think about it, it kinda makes sense to let a driver only accept a trip if they actually are ok with it, rather than pairing the first driver that blindly accepts a trip and then proceed to piss them off with an inconvenient drop off area. There's almost always a second or third driver willing to take that job instead, if you're going to lean on economies of scale.