# Uber is rolling out “Spotlight” so customers can wave you down with a colored screen



## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/16/uber-spotlight/









Uber is aiming to perfect the art of the pick-up with three features it says minimize cancellations. Guaranteed pickup windows boost confidence that you'll make your flight, and give you a credit of $10 if your scheduled ride is late. Pre-written messages let drivers and riders let each other know they'll "Be right there" or "I've arrived" with a single tap.

And most flashily, three years after I suggested Uber let you hold up a colored screen so your driver could find you amidst a crowd of hailers, it's introducing Spotlight. Each driver gets assigned a semi-unique color gradient to look for. Hit the Spotlight button, that color takes over your screen, and you can wave it to help your driver locate you.










These optimizations show the depths Uber is willing to go to shave seconds off of pickups. That can reduce unpaid waiting time for drivers while boosting the number of rides they complete per hour for the startup. And the peace of mind that they'll be able to hop in right when they're ready could lure riders away from competitors as Uber dukes it out across the globe. The updates are rolling out on iOS and Android in the US and Canada today.

"Human-to-human interaction is hard. Driver initiated cancellations after the driver has arrived at the pickup point are particularly stressful" Uber sr. product manager for rider experience Ryan Yu tells me. But in tests of the new quick messages features, "We found cancellations on both sides reduced significantly, especially for drivers after they've arrived."

We can only hope this level of attention to detail will be applied to optimizing its internal company culture - a hope shaken by this month's resignation of Uber's head of HR Liane Hornsey after a probe into how she handled racial discrimination at the company, and the NYT's report of insensitivity complaints about COO Barney Harford.








Uber has been steadily adding little improvements to the pickup process over the years. Here's a quick, abridged list:


Incentivizing drivers to wait instead of cancelling by starting the meter after waiting at the pickup spot for more than 2 minutes.
Live location sharing so riders can optionally let drivers see where they are as they seek the vehicle
Suggested pickup spots nearby where drivers can safely pull over, and avoid them looping around one way streets
Sequential pickups so you're assigned the nearest driver, even if they're still finishing their previous ride
Pick up location changing so you can choose a different spot nearby if you got the address wrong or are on the other side of the building
There are three upgrades in particular that serve as the foundation for today's updates.










In-app chat between riders and drivers makes it so you don't have to use SMS. Uber could only anonymize your number in some markets, creating privacy concerns, and SMS could be cost prohibitive in some parts of the world. Uber messaging launched in mid-2017, and could be read aloud to the driver and replied to with a thumbs-up emoji to reduce the chance of distracted driving. Lyft still uses SMS for comparison.

Now both users and drivers will see the most common messages pre-written and sendable with the touch of a button so they don't have to type. "Drivers noted that they were more reassured when their rider actually sent them a message" said Yu, which can keep them from cancelling if the rider needs a little more time to get to the pick up spot. I asked if automatic translation would be available here, so if driver in Brazil sent an American user "eu cheguei", it'd show up as "I have arrived". Yu told me "Translations are on the roadmap. We're figuring out how to best pair them alongside voice."

Uber added scheduled rides in mid-2016 shortly after Lyft did the same. You can plan a ride up to 30 days in advance, but you're still subject to surge pricing in the moment. At least now you'll get $10 credit if the driver is late. But unfortunately, the pickup window Uber showed me in the demo was 15 minutes, though Yu said it may very be region. I sometimes only make my flights by 10 minutes, and since my pickup ETA in San Francisco is typically only 3 to 5 minutes, I'm probably better off just booking the ride when I'm ready.









Uber's  Beacon and Lyft's Amp are color-coded dashboard lights that help riders find their driver

Back in 2015, I suggested that "Uber could offer some signal on the driver or passenger's phone to help them find each other". A week later it announced it would start testing Spot, which let users pick a color that would light up on an LED bar installed on driver's windshields. In November 2016, Lyft launched its Amp dashboard light that assigned a random color riders could look out for. A month later, Uber's Spot had evolved into the dashboard Beacon light that lets users pick the color and is now available in 14 cities.

Today's update gives riders a light too, which is great if you're one of dozens of people waiting outside a concert or sports game trying to find their Uber. Hit the Spotlight button, and you'll get instructions to wave your colored screen in the air. Drivers are permanently assigned a color that stays constant across trips so they can train themselves to look out for it.

Spotlight is meant to supplement beacon. Not all drivers will have a bacon, and we want to pass that to two-way communication" says Yu. But since the Beacon dashboard lights are always visible, Uber says that if a driver has one, users won't see the Spotlight option and will instead just be able to choose the Beacon's color.

Together, these features should eliminate most pickup problems. We'll see if Uber's competitors and international partners like Didi adopt them too. After retreating from markets like China in exchange for a percentage of ownership of the local leader, there's more pressure on Uber to squash its homeland competitor Lyft, which has been gaining market share. Yet neither has offered an oft-requested feature some users would even be willing to pay an extra dollar for: a 'quiet ride' where the driver doesn't make small talk.


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## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

It might work unless the driver is color blind.


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## jlevan (Apr 7, 2018)

What’s wrong with just waving, always works for me


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...8wAA&usg=AOvVaw1YnV9UMG33EdMfufw9Wign&ampcf=1

Trying out things like having the pax phones change colors, to make it easier to flag down drivers in crowds.

Why don't they spend some time figuring out how to make mall pickups or apartment pickups better?

Better yet, if they want to reduce cancellations, maybe coach the pax to be toes on kerb...


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## just_me (Feb 20, 2017)

You mean actually having the pax ready for the ride when the driver shows up as opposed to still being in the checkout line?


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

Code writers are geeks; they don’t view situations through the eyes of a driver, they view progress though the lens of a geek.


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

Well...actually...this is a GREAT idea, although not new. We are actually going to *like* this.

When we first got Uber Beacons in Miami a year and a half ago, there was a feature for the _pax to select_ a color for their phone and the Beacon would match. Problem was, most drivers didn't have Beacons, very few pax knew how to use the system (it was only in Denver and Miami at the time), and drivers were as clueless as pax.

BUT...when both the pax and the driver understood how it worked (1/100 chance), *it really worked great* -- especially in crowded venues like concerts, sporting events and airport pickups.

So now they've tried to make it idiot-proof by taking the guesswork out of both the pax and driver's hands. But if they turn the pax's phone lime green and tell them to HOLD THIS UP...hopefully all but the Poop riders will get it.

When it works, it works GREAT.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

All they gotta do is allow pax to upload a picture.

All this other nonsense is just plain stupid.

Oh, and remind pax to make a request where we can safely stop on the street and get rid of that stupid ass Express Poop garbage where the server tells pax to wait on the expressway where it's illegal to pick pax up at.



> Suggested pickup spots nearby where drivers can safely pull over, and avoid them looping around one way streets




the dumbest thing uber has ever rolled out and counterproductive to making pickups easier


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## Kodyhead (May 26, 2015)

Why cant they teach people to stop using the pin and type in the address, building name or business. This would reduce 80% of the issues.

Asking someone to type Is like asking them to wash dishes now, but if Starbucks gave away a free coffee for a 5 page essay on why they love Starbucks, some of these riders would type all day lol

Why cant they give a thumbs up or down menu if the rider put the correct address or not, and flag riders who have issues and give them a simple training video to putting in the pick up correctly.

Or they can keep raising rates and paying drivers less for more stupid ideas lol


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## Cvi (Jul 25, 2015)

Kodyhead said:


> Why cant they teach people to stop using the pin and type in the address, building name or business. This would reduce 80% of the issues.


Bingo! What good is waving a phone around if the driver and passenger are in different locations. I'm afraid this will become just another excuse for riders to down-rate you when you can't find them right away.

You know, if you enter the address that uber sends you in Google Maps, instead of hitting navigate within the Uber platform, it will navigate correctly to the address. (assuming the address is correct, but that's another issue.) It won't navigate you to an adjacent street corner or a back alley or the next street over. So that problem is on Uber's end, not the map software.

Also, I love the idea of putting the name of the business in the pickup. This helps tremendously, especially in shopping centers. I suspect most people don't even realize you can do this. Uber should communicate that to the customer. Or communicate it more effectively if they are already.

The irony is that both Uber and the drivers want the same thing - a better pickup experience. But uber wants to control the pick up experience instead of letting common sense rule and it's causing all kinds of problems. And we (drivers) are getting hit with bad ratings because of it.


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## Drivincrazy (Feb 14, 2016)

I've observed pax attentively pay attention to the color of the car and then the license plate number. Then, mutual name confirmation. Simple; it works and pax are comfortable with it. No need to complicate matters, IMO.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

BurgerTiime said:


> https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/16/uber-spotlight/
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Roll out some Damn Money for Drivers Uber !

How about that ?



Cvi said:


> Bingo! What good is waving a phone around if the driver and passenger are in different locations. I'm afraid this will become just another excuse for riders to down-rate you when you can't find them right away.
> 
> You know, if you enter the address that uber sends you in Google Maps, instead of hitting navigate within the Uber platform, it will navigate correctly to the address. (assuming the address is correct, but that's another issue.) It won't navigate you to an adjacent street corner or a back alley or the next street over. So that problem is on Uber's end, not the map software.
> 
> ...


Uber knows Nothing of " Common Sense"

" FLYING CARS "!

" LOWER RATES MEAN MORE MONEY"!

" NO NEED TO TIP "!

" ASK YOUR DRIVER FOR MINTS & WATER"

See what i mean ?



Uber's Guber said:


> Code writers are geeks; they don't view situations through the eyes of a driver, they view progress though the lens of a geek.


That is why Uber Sucks


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Allow the pax to upload a pic if they want and tell pax that if they don't upload a pic to please signal the driver when they see the car and get rid of the Express Poop where the server puts them in a stupid location would fix all the issues. 

But the people writing the code are morons and never do trips so they have no clue what works and what doesn't.


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## mrpjfresh (Aug 16, 2016)

How can this author have been writing about Uber for more than *3 years* and still be this clueless? If they want to cut down on driver initiated cancellations, heck, I don't know... maybe make it so the minimum fare is higher than what an easy cancellation pays. That just might be a good start.


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## dirtylee (Sep 2, 2015)

mrpjfresh said:


> How can this author have been writing about Uber for more than *3 years* and still be this clueless? If they want to cut down on driver initiated cancellations, heck, I don't know... maybe make it so the minimum fare is higher than what an easy cancellation pays. That just might be a good start.


Uber will just cut the cxl to less for us. Still the same charge for pax.

Mandatory Facial Pics of Pax.


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## teh744 (Apr 14, 2018)

I will be watching for it after a prime time Steelers game....


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## Trump Economics (Jul 29, 2015)

Received a text message yesterday telling me, “Automated response: look for so and so holding up a red phone.” It was awesome. I saw the passenger clearly from half a block away, and it allowed me to drive right by him and cancel that much faster.

Thanks, Uber


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