Uber Will Soon Let You Light Up Your Phone In A Particular Colour To Help Your Driver Find You

It can be really anxiety-inducing when you¡¯re catching an Uber in a crowded situation.

So now, Uber is rolling out a host of new features to its app that should make it a lot easier for you and your driver to spot each other, even with dozens of other people milling about.

For instance, think of when you¡¯re leaving a bar or the airport. There may be a lot of other people just standing around or trying to catch a cab of their own. And while you may know the license plate of the car you¡¯re looking for, and the driver knows where you¡¯re standing, there¡¯s still the possibility of you missing each other, and the ride eventually getting cancelled. So there¡¯s now a couple of new tools to address just that possibility.

The first tool is called Spotlight. When you call an Uber, there¡¯s now a way to signal your driver, similar to how ground crew signal a plan at the airport. All you do is, when you request a pickup, also select a colour that will flash on your phone. That information is also sent to your driver. That way, instead of just waving your phone in the air towards your cab driver, you can have it also light up in a certain colour. Your driver too will know that he has to look for a green-lit phone, for example, rather than one glowing pink or yellow.

This is in fact another version of a similar feature Uber tried out a couple of years ago, called Beacon. It was basically a Bluetooth-enabled little box in the shape of the Uber logo, that driver could set on their dashboard. It would then light up in a predetermined colour to signal the rider they¡¯re picking up.

Of course, that gadget was something Uber would need to manufacture and then distribute to its drivers, so it didn¡¯t really take off. However, the company says it hasn¡¯t given up on the idea just yet. In fact, if your driver has a Beacon (though it¡¯s confined to a few cities in the US), it¡¯ll take precedence over the new Spotlight feature.

Another recent addition was better communication between rider and driver, specifically with regards to your location. For instance, you can send a template message in the app saying something like ¡°be right there¡±, or message them indicating you¡¯re wearing a certain coloured shirt or standing in front of a fountain etc.

Lastly, Uber is also working to improve its ride-hailing services by improving GPS accuracy in big cities. The new project for that is called Shadow Maps, and is currently being tested in North America, so we¡¯ll hopefully see it here in India as well in a few months.