At the Wheel of Algorithms offers a critical sociological anatomy of platform work in its mature phase, when platforms are no longer 'disruptors' operating in a regulatory vacuum, but stabilized actors embedded in labour markets, legal regimes and intermediary infrastructures.

Based on more than seven years of mixed-method research with ride-hailing drivers and food delivery couriers in Poland, the book explains how algorithmic management works in practice: how pay is calculated and contested, how ratings and penalties discipline workers, and how local intermediaries (fleet partners) mediate the power of global platforms.

Conceptually, the authors advance an integrated 'platform labour regime' framework, drawing on Labour Process Theory, Marxist political economy and Polanyian insights on commodification. They introduce and develop key concepts to capture how platforms extract value not only from labour power but also from behavioural data and worker conduct, foregrounding worker agency without romanticizing it, and showing how everyday tactics of adaptation and 'gaming the system' often reproduce rather than break platform control.

Bartosz Mika is an Associate Professor at the University of Gdansk, Poland, and Head of the Laboratory for Sociological Research. His research focuses on the sociology of work and economic sociology, with recent work examining on-demand labour platforms and algorithmic management. He is the author/co-author of several monographs and scholarly articles.

Dominika Polkowska is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Poland. Her research focuses on platform work, labour relations, and precarity, with particular attention to autonomy and flexibility. She has led international research projects and published widely on transformations of work and employment.