It is currently only available to users of its luxury Uber Black services, costing the passenger extra.

Leave it to venture capital to try to make profits off people wanting their driver to shut up.

Uber has been rising their prices enough that now they are nearly at price parity with taxi cabs which, at least around where I live, are notorious for price gouging. At this point there is little reason pick Uber or Lyft.

Currently passengers can use the app to rate conversational skills, so a driver wishing to increase his score may deliberately try to make small talk.

That sounds bloody awful.