The cost charged wasn't for the technology.

Taxis and cabs are regulated with fixed time/mileage rates. Uber isn't. It can charged dynamic pricing. The work around for Taxi apps is to shift this dynamic price into the "technology fee", as a workaround.

The user isn't paying $15 for algorithm. It's paying $15 because the ride was ordered during a high-demand time, and the app is hiding that as a dynamically priced "technology fee" to workaround regulations of fixed time/mileage rates.