Rideshare drivers cannot accurately track deductible mileage because Uber and Lyft apps only log miles with a passenger, not deadhead miles between rides

Uber and Lyft drivers in the U.S. can deduct all business miles driven on their taxes, including miles spent driving to pick up a passenger and miles driven between rides waiting for the next request. But neither platform's driver app tracks total miles driven during a shift -- they only record miles during active trips. Drivers must use separate third-party mileage tracking apps like Everlance or Stride, manually start and stop tracking, and reconcile logs against platform earnings statements at tax time. So what? Drivers who forget to run the third-party tracker lose legitimate tax deductions. So what? Lost deductions mean drivers overpay federal and state income tax plus self-employment tax by hundreds to thousands of dollars per year. So what? This effectively lowers their already-thin per-mile earnings below minimum wage in many markets. So what? Financially squeezed drivers quit the platform, worsening the driver shortage that causes longer passenger wait times and surge pricing. So what? The entire rideshare model becomes less viable in lower-density markets where deadhead miles are highest and driver supply is already scarce. The structural root cause is that rideshare platforms treat drivers as independent contractors but control the dispatch system. They possess the GPS data for the entire shift but have no business incentive to surface total-miles-driven data to drivers, because doing so would make the contractor relationship look more like employment and would highlight how much unpaid driving the platform demands.