Uber has learned from its internal data that riders are much more likely to spring for surge-priced fares when their phone is nearing the end of its battery life.
The reasoning here is pretty straightforward: Anyone with an amply charged phone can afford to wait and see if Uber's real-time demand-based pricing system might let up on the extra charge.
But the prospect of being stranded with a dead phone makes time more of the essence.
Uber knows when your phone battery is running low because its app collects that information in order to switch into power-saving mode.
But Uber's reaserchers promise they would never use that knowledge to gouge you out of more money.