Ride-Hailing Corporations, Territorial Selectivity, and Urban Algorithmic Inequalities in Brazil

In Brazil, digital platforms have reshaped mobility since Uber began its operations in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2014. Since then, the consolidation and interiorization of two main ride-hailing corporations have been observed: Uber and 99/DiDi (originally a Brazilian startup), although other companies with a lower market share have operated in some other cities. Methodologically, this research is based on qualitative and quantitative data that include field research, secondary data, and interviews with driver-partners in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The text, divided into three sections, begins with an overview of the sector in Brazil, followed by an analysis on two geographic scales: (i) the national scale, focusing on the territorial strategies of the corporations, especially Uber, and (ii) the urban scale, associating unequal urbanization in the platforms’ algorithmic management of work and territory. The conclusions indicate that space is a productive factor that enables the geographically unequal extraction of income by companies. A territorial duopoly has quickly formed between Uber and 99/DiDi in the most urbanized, populous, and wealthiest areas across the territory. On the urban scale, ride-hailing corporations have engendered urban algorithmic inequalities based on activities in dynamic areas, to the exclusion, via geofencing, of impoverished, peripheral areas.