Uber Has New Tool To Help Combat Missed Connections
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Just about everyone who uses Uber has a story about that time they couldn't find their driver. Now, the ride-sharing company has a new device to help combat the missed connections.
Uber drivers and passengers sometimes struggle to find one another in crowded areas. Some people even get into the wrong car. It's happened to KYW Newradio editor Tim McLaughlin twice while he was parked in Center City.
"I'm sitting in my car, eating lunch and I hear my back door suddenly open," McLaughlin explained. "I had a mouth full of salad and I start screaming at this woman 'don't get in my car.'"
"[Another time], a woman just opens my back door and she says 'are you Arthur?!?' No, I'm not Arthur," McLaughlin said.
Riders are given vehicle make, model and tag numbers, but this keeps happening, so the company created Uber Beacon.
"It's an LED light mounted on the windshield and passengers select the color on display," said Uber spokesman Craig Ewer. "What we want to do in 2017 is really make Uber Beacon part of the standard Uber experience everywhere you go."
Ewer says the device helps drivers and riders more quickly connect at night, and particularly at crowded venues.
"In Seattle, it reduced the need for riders and drivers to contact one another before the trip," he said.
It's expected to launch in Philly sometime this year.
