Uber turns users' friends into destinations
Uber has updated its app yet again, this time to include a new feature which allows users to input their friends' locations as destinations. To use the feature, customers must sync their contacts with the Uber app and enter the name of the friend they are hoping to meet. A notification is then sent to the person requesting their location. Once accepted, the app offers an estimated time of arrival so friends can track one another. Uber has also partnered with Snapchat, offering exclusive filters for Uber passengers to use during rides.

It is then displayed in your driver's app and your ETA is sent to back to them

Uber has added a new feature that makes it easier to request a ride to friend's houses.

Instead of adding places or addresses, users type in the name of a contact, who also uses the app, and a request will be sent to them asking for their whereabouts.

Once they accept, their location is displayed as the destination in your driver's app and your ETA is shared with them after the trip begins.

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Uber has added a new feature that makes it easier to request a ride to your friend’s location. Instead of adding places or addresses, users type in the name of a friend or family who also uses the app

FIND YOUR FRIENDS Uber has added a new feature that makes it easier to request a ride to your friend’s location. Start off by syncing your contacts with the Uber app. Then just type a name into the ‘Where to?’ box and your friend will receive a request from Uber that you want to access their location. And if they accept, their location will appear as the route and destination of your trip on your driver’s app. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->

Last month, the ride-sharing giant unveiled its biggest redesign since 2012.

And one of the highlights is that the firm added, and continues to add, better technology for its users.

Uber was initially created to fill the need of easily getting from point A to point B, but Uber understands this is sometimes easier said than done.

However, the latest feature will take the confusion out of friends and family trying to locate one another.

‘Where are you? Where’s that again? These are common questions we ask friends and family when meeting up,’ Uber shared in a press release.

‘If you’re catching up with friends when out of town, meeting your sister at the mall, or joining coworkers for drinks, now you can skip the back and forth.'

'Just Uber directly to them!’

The new feature solves another problem – the pain of waiting for your friend to arrive.

Now, the app will share your ETA with them right after the trip begins - letting them know how far away you are from their location.

They’ll get updates just like if you decided to share your ETA on any trip.

Start off by syncing your contacts with the Uber app.

Then just type a name into the ‘Where to?’ box and your friend will receive a request from Uber that you want to access their location.

Start off by syncing your contacts with the Uber app. Then just type a name into the ‘Where to?’ box and your friend will receive a request from Uber that you want to access their location. The app will also share your ETA with them right after the trip begins

And if they accept, their location will appear as the route and destination of your trip on your driver’s app.

In addition to making pickups and drop-offs more seamless, the overhauled app is also packed with new features to keep riders engaged with the app, including Yelp reviews, Pandora stations and Snapchat filters.

Uber unveiled its biggest redesign since 2012 last month. It's packed with new features to keep riders engaged with the app, including Yelp reviews, Pandora stations and Snapchat filters

'Since our last redesign in 2012, our app has become complicated and harder to navigate,' Uber said when announcing the changes.

'To recapture the clean and simple aesthetic of the original Uber experience - without sacrificing the choice our riders now expect - we rebuilt a faster, smarter rider app completely from the ground up.

'Gone are the days when everyone's app looks the same.

'The new Uber experience is re-imagined around a simple question - Where to?'.'

While users are heading out to dinner with friends, they can quickly access the establishment's Yelp review.

UBER ANNOUNCES A NEW REDESIGN TO ITS APP Uber unveiled its biggest redesign since 2012 in November that is said to be faster, easier to understand and more upfront with costs and travel time. The new update also gets rid of one annoying feature – all the different car options. Uber merged the different vehicles into three groups: Economy (which includes UberPool and UberX), Premium (Uber Select and town cars), Extra Seats (extra-large cars and SUVs), and More (for those who need a child’s car seat or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle). Users swipe through the four options and choose which type of car they want – the app also shows how much the ride will cost for each one. The ride-hailing giant said its technology will also remember customer's most visited places in order to increase pick-up and drop-off times - the system taps into digital calendars on your smartphone to learn your daily routine. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->

Or if you left the office late and do not feel like cooking, UberEats is connected to the app that lets you order take out.

Riders can also listen to Pandora Stations and use an Uber Snapchat filter that shows their ETA.

As soon as the driver starts the trip, the app experience transforms,' product manager Yuhki Yamashita, who led the redesign, told Wired.

Once the car takes off from the pickup location, a scrollable feed of cards will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Swiping up shows you items that Uber thinks you may be interested in or go left, and the UberEats card appears displaying which restaurants will have you food at your home the same time you arrive.

'This is more than a normal app update,' Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told reporters at a briefing last month.

'We decided earlier this year to do a full rewrite of the app.'

uBER plans to keep users engaged the entire trip with Uber feed. Riders can also listen to Pandora Stations and use an Uber Snapchat filter that shows their ETA

The new update also gets rid of one annoying feature – all the different car options.

Uber merged the different vehicles into three groups: Economy (which includes UberPool and UberX), Premium (Uber Select and town cars), Extra Seats (extra-large cars and SUVs), and More (for those who need a child’s car seat or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle).

Users swipe through the four options and choose which type of car they want – the app also shows how much the ride will cost for each one.

Uber merged the different vehicles into three groups: Economy (which includes UberPool and UberX), Premium (Uber Select and town cars), Extra Seats (extra-large cars and SUVs), and More (for those who need a child’s car seat or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle)

The ride-hailing giant said its technology will also remember customer's most visited places in order to increase pick-up and drop-off times - the system taps into digital calendars on your smartphone to learn your daily routine.

'We needed a new system to deal with the growing set of features that were piling up on an older design,' Kalanick said.

'Being predictive and personalized in how you experience Uber is really important.'

The ride-hailing giant said its technology will also remember customer's most visited places in order to increase pick-up and drop-off times - the system taps into digital calendars on your smartphone to learn your daily routine

Uber may have put a lot of time into its overhaul, but it is forgetting one important part of their customer experience – safety and fairness.

Earlier this week the National Bureau of Economic Researcher released a two-year study that tracked discrimination of riders who use Uber, Lyft, and Flywheel in Seattle and Boston.

The study, which took a sample of 1,400 usages of the apps, was done by researchers from MIT's Sloan School of Management, Stanford University, and the University of Washington.

In Seattle, black riders had to wait between 16 and 28 per cent longer than whites before they were accepted by drivers of UberX and Lyft. In addition, blacks had to wait for their accepted ride between 29 and 35 per cent longer when compared to whites when using UberX.

Unlike Lyft, whose drivers can see the potential customer's name and picture before accepting the fare, Uber drivers don't see the name of the person they are picking up until after they accept the fare.

Uber was initially created to fill the need of easily getting from point A to point B, and now they see another space that needs attention. But the redesign focuses on a new need - the time in between

The Boston study also revealed problematic data.

Riders who used 'African American-sounding' names were more than twice as likely to have the driver cancel the fare compared to riders with 'white-sounding' names, the study found.

Women, on the other hand, had no problem having their fares accepted, though drivers did at times take them on longer-than-usual rides, a practice that 'appears to be a combination of profiteering and flirting to a captive audience.'

In a statement to Bloomberg News, Uber said discrimination runs counter to company policy.

'Discrimination has no place in society and no place on Uber,' the statement said.

'We believe Uber is helping reduce transportation inequities across the board, but studies like this one are helpful in thinking about how we can do even more.'