Uber
Ride-hailing app that helps people go where they want
Overview
Uber is a ride-hailing company that offers the Uber mobile app, which you can use to submit a trip request that is automatically sent to an Uber driver near to you, alerting the driver to your location. The accepting Uber driver will then come and pick you up and drive you to your requested destination.
A robust platform common for drivers and riders, while functioning on a parallel ideology of supply and demand
Research
E-hail services like Uber made it fast and easy to hire a driver using a smartphone from almost any location at any time. While there are many advantages that can be listed – competitive pricing, safer and more flexible for drivers, professional service, and convenient and cashless. There are some disadvantages of the system as well.
Uber has become a prime example of the gig economy at work. Its workers are not guaranteed a minimum wage, supply and maintain their own vehicles, and have few if any benefits. That is becoming controversial in some cities where Uber operates.
Greater competition, and the continuous hiring of new drivers, this means that drivers have to work longer hours to earn an income comparable to what they would have earned a year or two ago.
User Research
I started diving in on the actual core of the problem. User feedback. While there seemed to be a lot of issues that surfaced, if there could be a word to describe the vibe, it would be “frustrated”, or try any of its synonyms, it would fit just fine.
If there is a place for review or feedback, usually the user visits it in three cases
Very much happy with the service
Fine with the service but suggest a few improvements that would have been better
Very much frustrated with the service
Analysis
Based on the research, the ratio of happy to frustrated customers that I noticed was nearly 1:10. The third case would merely amount to about 4-5% of the feedback. I noted down some of the issues that I believe could genuinely be improved.
Issue
Miscommunication
Upon listing down the issues from either sides, I could sense a pattern. There is a clear issue of miscommunication between the drivers and the passengers. Most of the issues hadn’t been there in the first place if there was no misunderstanding between the two parties.
While many of the problems seemed to be interconnected, that left me with a few problems to put my mind on
Ideation
I did some brainstorming that lead me to a handful of ideas. I tried to discern each of these ideas based on their feasibility as a new feature and assess by counter-proving each one of them.
And finally, seeing through my ideas, I decided to follow up on just two of them.
1.
Setting your operational radius
“ What if I drive for 10 minutes to pick-up, struggle to find the passenger and spend another 2 minutes, just to learn that they need to be dropped only 3 minutes away?”
Why?
Drivers have to bear most of the costs associated with the service, such as fuel as well as time. Neither do drivers get paid for reaching the pickup locations, nor do drivers know their passenger’s destination, which puts them in a situation where they need to bid if the time and fuel spent would be worth the trip. Hence, allowing drivers to choose their own scope of service might help them avoid such situations.
Once the driver sets their desired scope or area of service, they will be prompted to confirm
The life of the scope is set 1 hr by default, in case the driver becomes open to new requests but forgets to turn it off
Drivers can turn on their Uber Scope “on” to set the radius
Driver can scan the map and use the view expander to see and analyse their scope
2.
Syncing up through visual cues
Why?
Uber’s navigation and miscommunication has always been a topic of discussion. A large body of research indicates that visual cues help us to better retrieve and remember information. Although showing the car on map is also a visual help, people would be more receptive to this information if they could sense the surrounding and judge for themselves accordingly.
Once the driver is about to reach the pick-up spot (in the last 2 min), the app notifies the passenger as well and the camera on the Uber turns on the front live view
Passenger can see where their Uber has reached and adjust themselves for both the driver and passenger to be able to locate each other
People would be more receptive to this information if they could sense the surrounding and judge for themselves accordingly
Closing
Different users have different requirements, different priorities and take different actions under different situations and circumstances. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to any problem leaving lots of room for improvement, which gives us the opportunity to put in an effort towards improving the experience for all, promoting inclusivity.
Uber is most definitely thriving in an immensely competitive environment.
In the end, the goal is to bring better communication between the Uber driver community and the ride hailers to the fore, enabling Uber to build a trusted and robust platform that thrives with its drivers and riders on the same page.
Thanks for reading through!