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I shipped a small ultrasound prototype library to the Uber rider and driver apps. A 4 digit code would get sent to the driver app, and the rider app, and one si

by voz_ 3y ago

I shipped a small ultrasound prototype library to the Uber rider and driver apps. A 4 digit code would get sent to the driver app, and the rider app, and one side would chirp while the other would listen and confirm it. Ostensibly, this meant you were in the right vehicle. It was a cool toy but I left it at that. IIUC Uber put more work into it and made it robust enough to ship in prod. Shoutout to OC.

blitzar 3y ago
Normally when I get into the wrong car it inevitably is a non taxi and they ask wtf I think I am doing faster than phones could fail to do the ultrasonic handshake and let me know I had made a mistake.
- awestroke 3y ago
  It's good for the driver to confirm they have the right riders. And for riders to know that the driver is not just pretending to be an Uber driver in order to drive away and rob the rider.
  - meindnoch 3y ago
    If only we had human-readable identifiers on each and every car... Maybe we could put these identifiers on the outside surface of the car, so that the user can verify their identity without getting into the car and risk getting kidnapped. Any VCs here want to fund this idea??
    - taneq 3y ago
      They’d need to be regulated by some central governing agency though…
      - meindnoch 3y ago
        We'll put it on The Blockchain!
        xpe 3y ago
        And then some US states could decide whether to require placement of the Blockchain ID on the front bumper. (Ah yes, states, the laboratories of democracy in our federalist system.) > The phrase "laboratories of democracy" is often attributed to Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939. In a dissenting opinion in the case of New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932), Brandeis wrote: > "It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." (the previous two paragraphs via ChatGPT 3.5., verified by me) I would like to add the preceding sentence in the above quote from Brandeis’ dissent because it gives more context: > “To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the nation.”
        Spooky23 3y ago
        Yes. New Jersey has embarked on the courageous step of allowing shell companies to issue temporary tags, allowing criminals, cops and others to evade tolls, automated enforcement and pervasive LPR surveillance in New York.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    One day I was walking down the boulevard (in a tie-dye rainbow shirt - perhaps this had something to do with it) and I only had two blocks to go to the post office. Homeboy comes to a stop in an old and busted car, and he hollers out "Hey, I'm ... like, a Uber... you wanna ride somewhere?" and I had a lasting creepy feeling that that would happen in broad daylight. I mean, I'm sure homeboy just wanted me to hand over a few bucks in cash for an easy ride, but imagine the suckers and predators that could be brought together by fake Uber.
- zamnos 3y ago
  Depends on how busy things are where you are, and also how popular silver Priuses are there.
conradev 3y ago
This is how HomePod pairing works, too!
euroderf 3y ago
> one side would chirp while the other would listen and confirm it. Ostensibly, this meant you were in the right vehicle. In Finland this is solved by giving the person reserving the taxi a two-digit code that you repeat to the driver to confirm that you were the requester. It works great unless you're so loaded you can't remember a two-digit number.

by voz_ 3y ago

blitzar 3y ago

Normally when I get into the wrong car it inevitably is a non taxi and they ask wtf I think I am doing faster than phones could fail to do the ultrasonic handshake and let me know I had made a mistake.

awestroke 3y ago
It's good for the driver to confirm they have the right riders. And for riders to know that the driver is not just pretending to be an Uber driver in order to drive away and rob the rider.
- meindnoch 3y ago
  If only we had human-readable identifiers on each and every car... Maybe we could put these identifiers on the outside surface of the car, so that the user can verify their identity without getting into the car and risk getting kidnapped. Any VCs here want to fund this idea??
  - taneq 3y ago
    They’d need to be regulated by some central governing agency though…
    - meindnoch 3y ago
      We'll put it on The Blockchain!
      - xpe 3y ago
        And then some US states could decide whether to require placement of the Blockchain ID on the front bumper. (Ah yes, states, the laboratories of democracy in our federalist system.) > The phrase "laboratories of democracy" is often attributed to Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939. In a dissenting opinion in the case of New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932), Brandeis wrote: > "It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." (the previous two paragraphs via ChatGPT 3.5., verified by me) I would like to add the preceding sentence in the above quote from Brandeis’ dissent because it gives more context: > “To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the nation.”
        Spooky23 3y ago
        Yes. New Jersey has embarked on the courageous step of allowing shell companies to issue temporary tags, allowing criminals, cops and others to evade tolls, automated enforcement and pervasive LPR surveillance in New York.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  One day I was walking down the boulevard (in a tie-dye rainbow shirt - perhaps this had something to do with it) and I only had two blocks to go to the post office. Homeboy comes to a stop in an old and busted car, and he hollers out "Hey, I'm ... like, a Uber... you wanna ride somewhere?" and I had a lasting creepy feeling that that would happen in broad daylight. I mean, I'm sure homeboy just wanted me to hand over a few bucks in cash for an easy ride, but imagine the suckers and predators that could be brought together by fake Uber.
zamnos 3y ago
Depends on how busy things are where you are, and also how popular silver Priuses are there.

conradev 3y ago

This is how HomePod pairing works, too!

euroderf 3y ago

> one side would chirp while the other would listen and confirm it. Ostensibly, this meant you were in the right vehicle. In Finland this is solved by giving the person reserving the taxi a two-digit code that you repeat to the driver to confirm that you were the requester. It works great unless you're so loaded you can't remember a two-digit number.