I dunno, there is already friction: rating the experience.
This just makes the ratings honest.
Strange reaction from the downvote crew: okay, lets just live with fraud then. Its not like technological solutions to fraudulence are un-intersting, or?
> Its not like technological solutions to fraudulence are un-intersting, or?
What you're proposing, however, isn't a technological solution, at least not primarily. It's a solution based in modified human behavior.
A technological solution would be something closer to requiring full-time multi-camera video surveillance of each ride (as was recently on HN with the driver in Missouri live streaming to Twitch). Of course, it would raise all sorts of issues.
What you are proposing is personal irresponsibility.
But I propose that this is just your desire for personal irresponsibility.
As a user, I'd be quite happy to take a before/after picture of the car seat to ensure that both myself, and the driver, are satisfied as to the state of things during my ride. I see absolutely no issue with this - other than the fact that I have to take responsibility for the seat and the condition, no matter what.
But you seem to propose that riders shouldn't be held responsible for the condition of the car seat after they've used it. I don't think that's particularly ethical, nor great, nor does it improve the quality of service as a whole for all of Ubers riders.
You get out of the car, take another picture of the empty seat, and off you go.
Those pictures of the seats before/after condition don't have any personal details in them. No humans. And they're only shared with Uber for verification in cases where claims are made.
This just makes the ratings honest.
Strange reaction from the downvote crew: okay, lets just live with fraud then. Its not like technological solutions to fraudulence are un-intersting, or?