5 ms·

This is the perfect example of development for the sake of development. The new user experience is terrible and provides the user with zero extra benefits. I s

by dav43 10y ago

This is the perfect example of development for the sake of development. The new user experience is terrible and provides the user with zero extra benefits. I seriously can't see how a product manager signs off on these updates.

jonathankoren 10y ago
This isn't "development for the sake of development", no data collection is for that. This is to figure out where people are going. Addresses give you an idea, but they're not always precise. You may just give an intersection. Now, they're trying to figure out your actual destination. They're going to use this for monetization somehow. It's always about monetization. '
- HappyTypist 10y ago
  It's about self driving cars. So they know where to drive you to; to actually get somewhere.
  - jonathankoren 10y ago
    That doesn't make any sense. Think about it. How does a cab driver get you to your location? Well you explicitly tell him by giving an address, or the name of a POI, or drop a pin on a map. You're then taken to the location you specified. Now, as you approach the location, you make a choice to either finish the ride, or abort it early by telling the driver, "Hey, this close enough. Just let me out wherever." At this point, the cab driver doesn't care, as long as he gets paid and you're happy it's a successful transaction. So what does following you do? Well it finds your actual final destination. Which restaurant. Which house. Which apartment. Which store. So that brings up two questions. First, how does this true final destination information give a better rider experience? Well it's not exactly clear, since the rider gave explicit destination information at the start of the transaction, or explicitly ended the ride when they became satisfied. So, what's in it for the driver? Well that's not clear at all either, since rider was already satisfied and the driver got paid. So what doesn't it do for Uber? Well, now they have popularity of specific POIs. Which bar. Which restaurant. Which store. That's valuable information. You could use that to deduce rider profiles that include things such as taste preferences, and income level. Then you can use that information for differential pricing (e.g. "This dude has a bunch of disposable income, charge him an extra two bucks.") I'm sure there's other things you can do with it, but my point is that it's not useful for navigation, at all, but does give economic information which could be squeezed, and attempts to squeeze all the money they can from essentially a car service on demand app, is Uber's MO.
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
The Product Manager's bonus probably depends on timely release of new features.
ipqk 10y ago
I live in NYC with a lot of one-way streets, including my home. I actually use two different addresses for my home depending on whether I'm being picked-up or dropped-off. Otherwise, when being dropped off, Uber has sent me on some really odd detours just to get me exactly in front of my house. Instead, I'd rather get dropped off at a corner and walk 200 feet. In theory, by collecting the location data 5 minutes after, they can get a sense of this where and to whom this happens, and automatically correct for it. I don't know if it'll work, but if it does, it'll definitely be a benefit to me.
- bastawhiz 10y ago
  This is exactly the kind of application that the data is going to be used for.
  - CaptainZapp 10y ago
    Says Uber. Unfortunately - based on their history - you're working for an utterly untrustworthy company, no matter the smiley face of nice they're trying to paint themselves nowadays. This is not directed against you. I appreciate that you're hanging in here and participate in the discussion.
  - osi 10y ago
    They don't care about stupid routing. Uber in Chicago routes through alleys ALL THE TIME, but trying to talk to Uber support about this is a dead end. My home address is a street address, but Uber moves the pin to the alley.
- benliong78 10y ago
  That's a fair point, and I've lived in NYC briefly to know that it is indeed annoying to see the driver do circling around in traffic to get exactly to the door. You can use AI to solve it, or you can give the user power to tell the driver that he/she is willing to work a little bit. A simple button may have been suffice
- dav43 10y ago
  But why wouldn't you just speak to the driver?

by dav43 10y ago

jonathankoren 10y ago

This isn't "development for the sake of development", no data collection is for that. This is to figure out where people are going. Addresses give you an idea, but they're not always precise. You may just give an intersection. Now, they're trying to figure out your actual destination. They're going to use this for monetization somehow. It's always about monetization. '

HappyTypist 10y ago
It's about self driving cars. So they know where to drive you to; to actually get somewhere.
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  That doesn't make any sense. Think about it. How does a cab driver get you to your location? Well you explicitly tell him by giving an address, or the name of a POI, or drop a pin on a map. You're then taken to the location you specified. Now, as you approach the location, you make a choice to either finish the ride, or abort it early by telling the driver, "Hey, this close enough. Just let me out wherever." At this point, the cab driver doesn't care, as long as he gets paid and you're happy it's a successful transaction. So what does following you do? Well it finds your actual final destination. Which restaurant. Which house. Which apartment. Which store. So that brings up two questions. First, how does this true final destination information give a better rider experience? Well it's not exactly clear, since the rider gave explicit destination information at the start of the transaction, or explicitly ended the ride when they became satisfied. So, what's in it for the driver? Well that's not clear at all either, since rider was already satisfied and the driver got paid. So what doesn't it do for Uber? Well, now they have popularity of specific POIs. Which bar. Which restaurant. Which store. That's valuable information. You could use that to deduce rider profiles that include things such as taste preferences, and income level. Then you can use that information for differential pricing (e.g. "This dude has a bunch of disposable income, charge him an extra two bucks.") I'm sure there's other things you can do with it, but my point is that it's not useful for navigation, at all, but does give economic information which could be squeezed, and attempts to squeeze all the money they can from essentially a car service on demand app, is Uber's MO.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

The Product Manager's bonus probably depends on timely release of new features.

ipqk 10y ago

I live in NYC with a lot of one-way streets, including my home. I actually use two different addresses for my home depending on whether I'm being picked-up or dropped-off. Otherwise, when being dropped off, Uber has sent me on some really odd detours just to get me exactly in front of my house. Instead, I'd rather get dropped off at a corner and walk 200 feet. In theory, by collecting the location data 5 minutes after, they can get a sense of this where and to whom this happens, and automatically correct for it. I don't know if it'll work, but if it does, it'll definitely be a benefit to me.

bastawhiz 10y ago
This is exactly the kind of application that the data is going to be used for.
- CaptainZapp 10y ago
  Says Uber. Unfortunately - based on their history - you're working for an utterly untrustworthy company, no matter the smiley face of nice they're trying to paint themselves nowadays. This is not directed against you. I appreciate that you're hanging in here and participate in the discussion.
- osi 10y ago
  They don't care about stupid routing. Uber in Chicago routes through alleys ALL THE TIME, but trying to talk to Uber support about this is a dead end. My home address is a street address, but Uber moves the pin to the alley.
benliong78 10y ago
That's a fair point, and I've lived in NYC briefly to know that it is indeed annoying to see the driver do circling around in traffic to get exactly to the door. You can use AI to solve it, or you can give the user power to tell the driver that he/she is willing to work a little bit. A simple button may have been suffice
dav43 10y ago
But why wouldn't you just speak to the driver?