Reading the article, it seems as though the author is expecting that the technology is going to solve the problem of racial bias. I feel as though that’s missing the point badly.

You know, the sad reality is that certain races of people have a bad reputation because of what their peers are doing. I have a friend that is very liberal, DEFINITELY not racist, and he was a pedicab driver for a couple of years. He can count on one hand the number of times he was stiffed by a white person, and it was usually with an apology such as I had no idea I had forgotten my wallet; whereas other races of people routinely stiffed him for fare. He was as surprised as anyone, not expecting it to actually happen like that. The truth is as an honest black person it must really suck to get screwed by the minority that’s giving you the bad name.

He never stooped as to stop offering rides based on race, but it was something that really, really bothered him.