A former Uber driver filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco, USA, accusing Uber of racial discrimination through its star rating system.

The lawsuit claims Uber's use of passenger ratings to evaluate and potentially terminate drivers disproportionately affects non-white drivers and those with accents, and alleges that Uber is aware that passengers are prone to discriminate in their evaluations of drivers, yet continues to use this system for termination decisions.

The plaintiff, Thomas Liu, an Asian driver from Hawaii with a slight accent, claims he was deactivated after his average rating fell below Uber's minimum of 4.6 stars.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent all minority Uber drivers who have been kicked off the app due to poor star ratings, and asks the court to order Uber to stop using passenger evaluations when deciding whether to ban drivers from the app.

Uber denied these allegations, calling the lawsuit "flimsy" and arguing that ride-sharing has reduced bias for both drivers and riders.

This case highlights ongoing concerns about potential racial bias in gig economy platforms and the impact of customer rating systems on workers from minority backgrounds.