Uber Key
Unlocking more data with a new kind of key.
The Uber Key is a new platform coupled with a driver-centric $20 device using the vehicle’s telemetric data and GPS that will increase drivers’ earnings, improve safety, and enhance the overall driver and rider experience while contributing $100M’s+ back to Uber.
Unlocking more data
Vehicles are a key piece of the Uber experience, but today, a driver’s car information is entirely disconnected from the Uber network. Instead, we rely on phone and user submitted data to infer things like GPS and vehicle make/model while having no insight into real-time vehicle data like fuel levels. This leads to a number of common issues, including poor navigation when phone GPS or phone quality is low and unreliable telematics data for accident detection.
Fleet owners as first users
We identified early that we would need a group of users that were hungry to unlock more savings, cost efficiencies, and wanted to have increased insight into their car(s) usage. Fleet owners were the key!
Sometimes ranging from owning a few vehicles to several hundreds, these user types appeared eager to work with us as beta testers.
Low-cost entry
Every vehicle sold in the U.S. since 1996 features a standardized port (called the OBD-II port) which provides access to the car’s computer for diagnostic purposes. Off the shelf OBD-II devices featuring Bluetooth LE are inexpensive and readily available commercially (with costs ranging between $10 and $99). Many products have been developed integrating smartphones with the car’s computer through these devices, to deliver interesting features to drivers (e.g., Automatic, Mojio, AT&T).
Complete new platform
My team and I proposed to develop a platform at Uber for interacting with drivers’ cars’ computers through the OBD-II port and the driver’s phone (Carbon app). This would be a low-cost ($5-$50 at scale) generic platform that all product teams throughout Uber could integrate with to build new features for drivers and riders. It would also provide an important new highly granular data stream for applications in mapping and safety at the vehicle route level.
Part of device would also include special lighting to illuminate the footwells of drivers for peripheral feedback.
Branding
Uber was just about to announce it’s new branding including “Safety Blue”. Working with the brand team on these WIP guidelines I was able to mockup some CMF options which would have a soft-touch feel.