Uber’s finally got a replacement for infamous former CEO Travis Kalanick — say hello to Dara Khosrowshahi, kids — but the ride-hailing ship hasn’t been righted just yet. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the FBI is investigating allegations that Uber “used software to interfere illegally with its competitors.” The new investigation is over the same software that prompted Lyft drivers to file a class-action lawsuit against Uber back in April. (The suit was later dismissed.)
The software in question is called “Hell,” and was first reported by the Information earlier this year. (The name is opposite Uber’s “Heaven” program, a.k.a. “God View,” which tracked its own drivers.) Using Hell, Uber created a fake Lyft account to track Lyft drivers in a given area. “Uber could see, nearly in real time, all of Lyft’s drivers who were available for new rides — and where those drivers were located,” the Information reported. “That also allowed Uber to track the prices Lyft would offer to riders for certain trips, and how many cars were available to pick up riders at a particular time in one city or another.” This data could also be used to incentivize driving for Uber to current Lyft drivers. Uber says it abandoned the program back in 2016.
The FBI isn’t the only one investigating Uber right now. The Justice Department is currently looking into whether or not Uber violated foreign bribery laws. They are also investigating allegations surrounding “Greyball,” another secret and questionable piece of Uber software. Greyball was reportedly used to evade law enforcement, by tagging and tracking officials who might hurt business, before the company publicly shut it down in March. (After, of course, getting caught.)
