A group of California drivers has sued six of the country’s biggest fuel retailers, accusing them of using an artificial-intelligence pricing tool to coordinate the cost of petrol and keep it artificially high.
The complaint, filed on 22 June 2026 in federal court in Sacramento, names BP, Circle K, Marathon Petroleum, 7-Eleven, Walmart, and Albertsons as defendants.
According to the complaint, the chains all fed data into the same algorithmic pricing software, supplied by a firm called Kalibrate, which the plaintiffs say draws on competitors’ prices to recommend what each station should charge.
The drivers allege that the practice amounted to a coordination scheme that lifted prices in step rather than through ordinary competition.
The numbers attached to that allegation are not small. In areas where a high share of stations used the tool, the plaintiffs claim, petrol prices rose by roughly 30 cents per gallon compared with what competitive pricing would have produced.The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
