Uber deploys fleet of mapping cars to collect street-level imaging data
Uber is using a fleet of vehicles to collect street-level mapping data, with the goal of improving routing and ETA data, a company spokesperson confirmed yesterday. Uber currently relies on a mix of Google Maps data and its own routing algorithms, but the spokesperson suggested that the new data could make it easier for drivers to avoid congested streets and intersections. In the long run, Uber could use the data as a foundation for self-driving technology, CEO Travis Kalanick has openly expressed interest in autonomous vehicles, as not having to pay a driver has obvious advantages for Uber. Photographs of the mapping vehicles can bee seen here. 

Between Uber's recent flirtation with self-driving technology (and, in turn, its entrance into battle with Google and Apple) and its move into on-demand logistics with UberRush — not to mention the service's primary selling point being its efficiency — suffice it to say, Uber needs to have very good maps.

So it came as no surprise when, in March, the company bought mapping startup deCarte, and then when, in June, it acquired both Bing's mapping assets and 100 of its employees. BuzzFeed News has learned that for the past few months, Uber has been deploying contractors to drive Uber "mapping cars" around and capture 3D images of local streets (think Google Street View) using the image-capturing technology Microsoft once owned. The vehicles, one of which was recently spotted in Florence, Kentucky, and posted on Facebook by an Uber driver, will help Uber make more accurate ETAs, and enhance routing technology in the driver app. The images captured by these Uber-marked cars won't yet replace the app's existing maps, which are a combination of Google Maps and a proprietary routing algorithm. But, an Uber spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, the company hopes this image-capturing technology will help inform routing and ETAs such that it becomes specific enough to avoid, for example, tricky intersections or streets that are frequently congested.