Uber is conducting a secret campaign in an effort to recruit drivers from rival car sharing service Lyft.
The campaign is called 'Operation Slog' and a number of Silicon Valley big wigs are questioning Uber's ethics on the issue.
"There's been a lot of discussion -- and a lot of misinformation -- about Uber's driver recruitment and the ridesharing industry's at large," said the company in a blog post. "We'd like to set the record straight and demystify our recruiting efforts, which we call Operation SLOG (Supplying Long-term Operations Growth). With millions of riders and ever-increasing demand for more rides in even more cities, we are always working hard to recruit new drivers onto the platform."
Uber is also being accused of attempting to frustrate Lyft's drivers by booking rides and then cancelling them. Reportedly, over 5,000 rides were booked and cancelled, costing drivers both time and money. Uber has denied the allegations of booking and cancelling rides, however they have admitted to trying to recruit drivers.
"Like other industries, ride-sharing is a noisy marketplace. To market the benefits of driving with Uber, we cut through the noise to market to potential partners," continued the company.
The program essentially involved Uber hiring independent contractors to book rides on Lyft and then attempt to convince the drivers to switch to Uber. Contractors reportedly earned up to $750 for each driver that they convinced.
Rumors of these tactics have been around for a while now, however there has been nothing concrete until now. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick took to Twitter to defend his company from the allegations.
"Would it be controversial if we got in taxis and recruited taxi drivers and paid for the ride?" Kalanick said. "To be clear, we are paying for the rides, these are independent contractors working for multiple co's."
While Uber's tactics certainly are questionable, there's no denying that increasing the number of drivers is key for the company to be able to grow. More drivers essentially means that there can be more rides, expanding the Uber name. In order to recruit more drivers, it makes sense to take rides with them to be able to speak with them.
Uber and Lyft have been battling it out since they were started. Previously companies used tactics such as price-cutting campaigns, however they have not used anything like this in the past.
Uber has raised over $1.5 billion in capital funding and we don't yet know exactly how its investors will respond to the news.
