Uber talks about India-centric innovations and streamlining experiences for both drivers and riders

Uber organised a special ‘Tech Day’ event in New Delhi on 30 May, sharing details about how the company is focused on bringing the best technology and experience to customers in India. The company basically wanted to highlight India-centric innovations and the role technology plays to make the experience seamless for both riders and drivers.

Vinay Ramani, Head of Global Growth, Uber India said, “As a brand, we have always focused on constantly innovating to change lives for the better. India as a country poses some unique challenges like connectivity, navigation and smartphone penetration. Currently, our product experts and engineering teams in India and around the world are working on innovative solutions that will help improve the overall rider and driver experience. In several cases, these solutions are India-first initiatives, for example, we launched Cash as a payment option and we then extended this to global markets, like the UK, and several Southeast Asian markets.”

The event was divided into sessions where the spokespersons shared insights about how Uber has transformed and is not only building global, but also localizing and adapting Uber’s products to fit the local market requirements.

To enhance the driver experience, Uber has launched uberDOST, a referral platform first built for the Indian market which enables people to sign up drivers on the Uber platform. Individuals earn referral payments by helping their local driver-partner community grow. This is now expanding in other countries including South America. Apart from that, Uber provides chat, voice and SMS solutions to overcome linguistic barriers and help drivers operate seamlessly. The company also launched a series of new safety features in the driver app to improve road safety, which includes:

• Daily reports to drivers to compare their driving patterns with other drivers in their city — with suggestions on how to provide a smoother, safer ride.
• Messages in the driver app informing drivers that mounting their phone on the dashboard is safer than holding the phone in their hands.
• Speed display in the app that alerts drivers to help keep overspeeding in check.
• Reminders to drivers on the importance of taking a break when they need it.
• As for the rider, Uber said that it is constantly listening to consumers and have now build their products to connect them with the closest available driver, navigate the fastest path to their destination, and give riders an accurate ETA. The company said that it is also providing an opportunity to improve safety of rider and drivers in new and innovative ways — before, during and after every ride.

The company also spoke about how it is trying to bring the best payments solutions into its apps. It introduced cash as a payment option first in India, knowing that the primary mode of payment for Indians is still cash. Uber has now expanded this mode of payment to other parts of the world, including Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia (Nairobi, Vietnam, Sri Lanka). Uber also offers digital payment solution with Paytm in India to comply with the RBI’s mandated two-factor authentication rules and is expected to bring UPI as a payment option for riders.

Uber’s India Engineering Center located in Bengaluru is said to be building for India and the world. Opened in January 2016 the center marks Uber’s commitment to investing in India. There a strong team of engineers working on product innovations and localizations in India. The Bengaluru team focuses on rider experience, driver growth and marketplace efficiency, the Hyderabad team builds FinTech solutions that are used worldwide.

Uber is also testing a vehicle tracking and telematics system as an experiment which will help Uber monitor vehicles to guard against theft and misuse, and also keep the health of the vehicle in check, to lower maintenance costs. If successful, Uber will expand this to more vehicles and markets, once they get regulatory clearance and mandatory permissions.

Lastly the company touched upon the new rider app which was rebuilt from ground up, keeping in mind the changing needs of riders to deliver a much faster and improved interface.