Uber partners with Spotify to let club-hoppers DJ from the back seat

Unsurprisingly, Uber drivers are a little worried what this might mean for their sanity - and their safe driving

Uber has announced a new partnership with music-streaming service Spotify that lets passengers control the car’s music direct from their smartphones.

The service is launching in 10 cities initially (London, New York, San Francisco, Nashville, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Singapore, Stockholm, Toronto and Sydney) and will be only available to premium Spotify subscribers.

Although the update might be great news for the well-heeled, metropolitan elite and their wicked cool jams, you’ve certainly got to pity the drivers – and not just because they’ll be subjected to their passengers’ musical tastes.

Uber’s drivers rely at least partly on getting good ratings from customers to keep getting jobs. If a ca is a dirty or a driver is rude then customers of course can complain. Now, however, with Spotify drivers are worried that passengers won’t just want a ride, they’ll want a mobile party service.

Business Insider points to drivers complaining at UberPeople.net that many cars don’t have the auxiliary audio input necessary to support the new feature, meaning that passengers might rate them down just out of annoyance.

“I can see these entitled pax [passengers] asking me to turn up the volume to their favourite song to a level I am not comfortable driving w/ and then giving me a 1-3star rating just because I don’t let them “turn-up” (this means party really loud)" writes one worrier driver.

Another adds: “It’s hard enough to get the drunks home without being distracted by their perpetual disturbances […] Adding LOUD music (what’s next? Video games played at ear bursting sounds?) only adds another UNSAFE condition for the drivers.”

You hear that Uber? At least you know what the people want next: a PS4 in every car.