Oruganti made the discovery earlier this month after he arrived at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, India, September 9. After noticing that the driver who arrived with the car he ordered, who turned out not to be the person listed in the Uber app, was "drunk and drowsy," Oruganti took matters into his own hands.
"I had to pull the car over to the side, and I drove all the way home," he tweeted, also posting a photo of him and his so-called Uber driver. "Pic with the driver in the rider seat passed out. You need to fix this @Uber, @UberSupport."
— Surya Oruganti (@suryaoruganti) September 9, 2018
The frustrated Oruganti also uploaded a video of him asking the unidentified driver several questions, which The Drive reported were about the vehicle's owner.
— Surya Oruganti (@suryaoruganti) September 9, 2018
In a follow up tweet on September 15, Oruganti revealed that Uber's safety team stressed to him that he shouldn't have driven the vehicle, as it could've compromised his safety. Company officials also indicated that the drunk driver would be reprimanded in some manner.
An Uber spokesperson later told Indian news site The News Minute in an article published Sunday that Oruganti's experience was a "regrettable and concerning incident."
"While we take all possible measures to ensure that drivers behind the wheel match the person shown on the app, in rare instances, when this doesn't happen, we encourage riders to cancel their rides immediately and report the issue on the app, so that immediate actions can be taken," the statement reads. "Upon learning about this incident, the driver profile was removed from the app, and we are looking into the matter."
"We stand ready to further assist the rider and law enforcement as required," the official added.
This incident comes after Jason Gargac, a 23-year-old from Florissant, Missouri, was suspended by Uber for recording and livestreaming passengers without their consent. Gargac, who began working with Uber in March, installed a camera on his dashboard and livestreamed some 700 rides on the streaming platform Twitch.
