Drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and DoorDash Inc. are flocking to a wave of apps designed to make gig work a better gig.
One app tracks weather patterns, aggregates drivers’ earnings from multiple platforms and steers them toward more lucrative locations by keeping tabs on events and foot traffic at airports. Another transforms drivers’ phones into dash cams, footage from which can be used to dispute passenger complaints.
Gridwise Inc., the app that collates drivers’ earnings across platforms, said its downloads more than doubled in May compared with the same month in 2019. The Pittsburgh-based app, founded in 2017, said it has more than 140,000 active monthly users. New York-based Driver Technologies Inc., which started its dashcam app in 2018, said it saw 10 times more downloads in the same period. It has about 50,000 active monthly users, at least a third of which it estimates are gig workers.
Downloads of the apps are outstripping pre-pandemic levels as the U.S. reopens amid a patchwork of regulatory efforts that catapulted workers’ rights to the fore last year.
Many workers banded together to rally for better protections and drove awareness about tools that drivers could use to boost earnings, track expenses and hold companies accountable when something goes wrong.