January - May 2023 • Rider & Driver App
En-route delay notification & automated rebooking
Background
As part of my capstone project at the University of Washington, I had the unique opportunity to collaborate with Uber's Trip team. Efficient trip execution is crucial to Uber's success as a ride-sharing platform. Uber currently lacks robust mechanisms for handling delays and miscommunications, leading to frustration for both drivers and riders. This inefficiency results in decreased user satisfaction, reduced platform usage, and potential loss of market share to competitors offering more reliable services. Critically, this loss of market share not only impacts Uber as a company but also has direct ramifications for the livelihoods of our drivers, who depend on a steady stream of rides for their income.
solution
Introducing En-Route Delay Notification and Automatic Rebooking -- the proposed solution with help bridge the rider-driver communication and trip management gap. With En-Route Delay Notification, drivers can quickly select reasons for delays, instantly informing riders, while Uber sends automated updates if drivers are unable to respond. This real-time transparency allows riders to see how drivers navigate obstacles on the road, fostering trust and understanding. Complementing this, Automatic Rebooking empowers riders to effortlessly secure a new ride when faced with significant delays without the worry of impacting driver ratings. These enhancements will help improve the Uber trip experience, ensuring a smoother and more reliable ride for everyone involved.
exposing the pain points for both riders and drivers
Uber's current system for handling delays and rebookings is inadequate and frustrating. Both drivers and riders face unnecessary stress and inefficiencies when unexpected situations arise during trips, leading to a suboptimal experience for all parties involved.
Wasted Time and Resources
Drivers frequently experience extended wait times at pickup locations due to riders not being ready or GPS inaccuracies. This leads to wasted fuel, reduced earnings, and decreased overall efficiency.
Lack of communication
When encountering delays en route to a pickup, drivers lack an easy and efficient way to communicate the reason and estimated new arrival time to riders. This can lead to frustration and potential cancellations.
Inefficient Rebooking Process
When faced with significant delays, riders hesitate to cancel and rebook, fearing it might negatively impact the driver's rating or their own user status. The current process for finding an alternative ride is cumbersome and time-consuming.
Lack of Real-Time Information
Riders often face uncertainty when their driver is delayed, with little to no information about the cause or expected duration of the delay. This lack of transparency leads to anxiety and dissatisfaction with the service.
enhancing the current fulfillment architecture
Our approach to the design of the feature begins with setting up a dynamic threshold on the time of arrival to ensure it adapts to long or short trips. Leveraging traffic data from the UMM engine to predict potential delays on the road as well as GPSS data (i.e. vehicle speed), the feature on the driver app will check in with the driver to determine the source of truth if they are experiencing any issues of getting to the pick-up spot.
The driver, as a result, will also has the option to provide a reason for the delay. The app will automatically send an event log to the UMM geospatial engine and cross-reference with auxiliary sources to determine the source of truth, and sends an update to the rider app.
Balancing complexity & usability
During the design exploration process, I meticulously mapped out the intricate flows from ride confirmation to pickup for both the driver and rider apps. This comprehensive mapping was crucial in exposing all potential paths and edge cases, allowing us to address complexities without overwhelming the user. By visualizing the entire journey, we identified key points where improvements could significantly impact user experience.
Driver App
Automated delay notifications
Drivers can effortlessly communicate delays to riders without compromising safety, ensuring smooth trips regardless of traffic conditions. We've provide a streamlined and efficient solution for real-time updates. The system intelligently determines when it's safe to prompt drivers or automatically sends updates, prioritizing driver safety.
Driver App
Protecting driver earnings
Uber safeguards drivers from penalties due to circumstances beyond their control, while minimizing potential earnings loss. When delays lead to rebookings, drivers are automatically shielded from negative impacts and quickly matched with new nearby riders. This helps ensures fairness for drivers navigating unpredictable traffic conditions.
Rider App
real-Time eta updates
Uber keeps passengers informed about their ride's ETA status and any delay-related notifications. This feature not only provides continuous updates on the driver's location but also offers transparency on the driver's real-time status.
We've included estimated times for rebooking alternatives, empowering riders to have maximum context to make informed decisions.
Rider App
Slide to automatically rebook
Uber introduces a friction-right process that prevents accidental rebookings while ensuring fairness for both riders and drivers.
Users can easily slide-to-rebook, adding a deliberate step to avoid costly mistakes, and automatic rebooking comes with no penalties for either party.
outcomes
Our final concepts, while robust, do not account for every consideration (such as conversations around safety and accessibility) that extends beyond our scope due to the restricted timeline, but it would definitely be something we want to examine further if we had the opportunity. We would want to monitor the success of these enhancements to see if improving passive communication will help decrease the time to pick up, service improvements by drivers, and reducing churn because there's more transparency.
On top of designing these features, we are also so proud of our short film that illustrate how these new features impact the rider and driver's trip journey.
Amazing work. There's so much that I feel our teams can learn and takeaway – which only makes the work and presentation all the more impactful.
Kiran Arshi, Sr. Product Designer at Uber
You all should seriously be so proud of yourselves for all the thoughtfulness, due diligence, and creativity you put into this. It all came through 1000%.
Hyewon Son, Sr. Product Designer at Uber
Damn, even coming in hot with the Uber terminology, so impressive. Love the tech approach. Seriously amazing work from all of you.
Dylan Babbs, Sr. Design Engineer at Uber
Credits
This work would not have been possible without the exceptional support from the team at Uber and the department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington. Our team is incredibly grateful and would like to express gratitude to everyone who have helped us extensively every step of the way.
Christopher Sim
Design Lead
Vivian Igunbor
Product & Strategy
Jennifer Spriggs
Design & Research
Serene Gao
Design & Research