Uber Drivers Confront Challenges Working For A 'Faceless Boss'

By Aarti Shahani

Published June 9, 2017 at 4:38 PM EDT

While Uber says you can "be your own boss" — that's their viral tagline — hundreds of drivers tell NPR it's not true. They say Uber feels more like a faceless boss — setting strict rules and punishments, but eerily hard to reach, even in emergencies.

Aarti Shahani

Aarti Shahani is a correspondent for NPR. Based in Silicon Valley, she covers the biggest companies on earth. She is also an author. Her first book, Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares (out Oct. 1, 2019), is about the extreme ups and downs her family encountered as immigrants in the U.S. Before journalism, Shahani was a community organizer in her native New York City, helping prisoners and families facing deportation. Even if it looks like she keeps changing careers, she's always doing the same thing: telling stories that matter.

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