When an unidentified men took as many as 40 people hostage in Sydney's financial district this morning, mass evacuations in the area created a huge price spike for Uber cars in the area.

At one point the company was charging at least AU$100, or roughly quadruple the normal price, according to Mashable.

While the apparent price gouging amid a crisis was cringe-worthy, the company wasn't completely at fault'"after all it relies on an automated algorithm to set prices, and demand had spiked. Uber has agreed to cap prices in the US during emergencies, but it has no such arrangement in place in Australia.

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