--- description: Uber said that there are no phantom cars in response to a recent Vice article. title: Uber Denies There Are ‘Phantom’ Cars In Its App image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36f344e606e2d249/69885d455f570f285db1cb1c/gettyimages-459615282.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Uber](/tag/uber/) ## Uber Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Uber Denies There Are ‘Phantom’ Cars In Its App by [Benjamin Snyder/Fortune](/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder/Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2015 7:45 PM CUT  The Uber Technologies Inc. logo is displayed on the window of a vehicle after dropping off a passenger at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014\. Uber Technologies Inc. investors are betting the five-year-old car-booking app is more valuable than Twitter Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Uber Technologies Inc. logo is displayed on the window of a vehicle after dropping off a passenger at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014\. Uber Technologies Inc. investors are betting the five-year-old car-booking app is more valuable than Twitter Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Benjamin Snyder/Fortune](/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder/Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2015 7:45 PM CUT Although there’s nothing too spooky about the possibility of phantom cars showing up in Uber’s app, it does come across as somewhat sneaky. Researchers are arguing that the app has cars appear when a user opens up the service, but there are actually none in the area. Uber, however, vehemently denies the accusation of “phantom” cars. In a [Vice article](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/ubers-phantom-cabs "undefined"), Alex Rosenblat and Luke Stark, who are researchers from the Data & Society think tank, said an Uber representative told a passenger that the app is “simply showing that there are partners on the road at the time.” “This is not a representation of the exact numbers of drivers or their location,” the representative continued, according to the article. “This is more of a visual effect, letting people know that partners are searching for fares. I know this seems a misleading to you but it is meant as more of a visual effect more than an accurate location of drivers in the area. It would be better of you to think of this as a screen saver on a computer.” “Our goal is for the number of cars and their location to be as accurate as possible in real time,” an Uber spokesperson said in an interview with [The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/30/uber-denies-misleading-passengers-with-phantom-cars-on-app?CMP=share%5Fbtn%5Ftw "undefined"). “Latency is one reason this is not always possible. Another reason is that the app only shows the nearest eight cars to avoid cluttering the screen. Also, to protect the safety of drivers, in some volatile situations, the app doesn’t show the specific location of individual cars until the ride is requested.” Uber Denies 'Phantom' Cars In Its App, Despite Researchers' Findings ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/"},"headline":"Uber Denies There Are ‘Phantom’ Cars In Its App","datePublished":"2015-07-30T19:45:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:13.183Z","description":"Uber was responding to a recent Vice article","url":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/","keywords":["Uber","Tech","Autos","auto industry","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36f344e606e2d249/69885d455f570f285db1cb1c/gettyimages-459615282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Benjamin Snyder/Fortune","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36f344e606e2d249/69885d455f570f285db1cb1c/gettyimages-459615282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Uber At $40 Billion Valuation Would Eclipse Twitter And Hertz","caption":"Uber At $40 Billion Valuation Would Eclipse Twitter And Hertz","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/uber/","name":"Uber"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/","name":"Uber Denies There Are ‘Phantom’ Cars In Its App"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Uber And Lyft's Carpooling Services","description":"Popular tech companies Lyft and Uber are leading a wave of new services that have the potential to revive shared rides.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UnI1Xupv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-24T08:32:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UnI1Xupv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3979271/uber-phantom-cars/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```