Uber has begun piloting digital AI training tasks within its Driver application across the United States, positioning its global network of freelance drivers and delivery workers to compete with established data annotation platforms, including Scale AI and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.
The company announced the initiative at its Only on Uber event in Washington, DC, allowing drivers to earn during downtime by completing simple tasks such as uploading photos to help train AI models. The feature, powered by Uber’s AI Solutions Group, has already been tested in India.
The initiative places Uber in competition with platforms that provide human data annotation and labelling services to generative AI developers. These services, predominantly sourced from international labour markets at lower costs, play an essential role in training advanced AI systems.
Uber’s expansion into AI training work represents a strategic shift for the ride-hailing platform, leveraging its millions of monthly active drivers and couriers to capture a share of the data annotation market. The company gathered feedback through more than 60 Crew sessions involving over 100 Uber team members this year, with drivers requesting additional earning opportunities beyond traditional rides and deliveries.
Alongside the AI training pilot, Uber unveiled dozens of updates designed to improve earnings and safety for its workforce. A redesigned Rides Heatmap launches nationwide, displaying areas where drivers experienced shortest wait times in red, orange and yellow, with surge areas shown in purple.
The company will launch an updated Uber Pro rewards programme in March 2026, consolidating existing programmes into a single system with four tiers. Gold tier and higher drivers will receive increased earnings on most trips, whilst Platinum and Diamond members gain access to additional rewards.
Uber is expanding its Women Rider Preference feature to Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland and Washington DC. The option, which allows women drivers to receive trip requests from women riders, has been used on more than 150 million trips globally, with over half of participating drivers keeping it enabled for more than 90 per cent of their trips.
The new Delayed Ride Guarantee ensures drivers earn additional compensation when trips with riders take more than five minutes longer than estimated. Couriers will soon see guaranteed amounts on trip requests that remain fixed even if customers modify tips after delivery completion.
Uber stated it will limit platform access restrictions to specific earning opportunities rather than full deactivation where possible, though serious violations including safety concerns may result in complete platform removal. The company confirmed that riders filing false reports face action including permanent removal when drivers provide evidence demonstrating report inaccuracy.
