Tag: uber

Uber Experiments With On-Demand Healthcare

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Engadget

After experimenting with picnic baskets and grocery delivery, Uber is now introducing a pilot program named UberHealth that looks to leverage Uber’s logistical power into on-demand health services, starting with the flu shots. Users in Boston, Washington DC or New York City can order an on-demand flu shot to be delivered and administered by what Uber refers to as “roaming nurses.” Maybe in the near future, Uber can do more for healthcare like bringing doctors straight to the doorsteps of bedridden patients.

On-demand Cars’ Huge Impact On Taxi Business

Posted on by Lab Team

The taxi business is being impacted severely by competing transportation networks: in July, average trips by taxis in San Francisco, home to on-demand car services Uber and Lyft, were reportedly only one-third of trips in March 2012. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is doing its best to help taxi drivers stay in business, but the trend towards on-demand services seems all but inevitable at this point.

Uber Opens Up “Corner Store” and API

Posted on by Lab Team

Following its experimental campaign to deliver Lay’s-sponsored picnic baskets last week, Uber continues its dive into the on-demand economy by launching “Corner Store”, essentially a grocery delivery service embedded in the Uber app. The service is currently in beta and limited to Washington, DC area.

In addition, Uber also announced its decision to open up an API to let app developer integrate its service into their app. Brands including Starbucks, United Airline, Trip Advisor, and Open Table have reportedly signed up as partners. It is clear that Uber want to be more than just a platform for on-demand car service, and it will be interesting to see if such ambitious extensions will scale.

What’s Next For The Sharing Economy

Posted on by Lab Team

From car rides to groceries, apps like Uber and Instacart have helped fostering a new service market for connecting consumers with similar needs to share a service together. Born out of such market demand, the booming sharing economy is set out to transform the way many service industries conduct their business. But could we take this sharing concept one step further and apply it to big data?

By default, matching another person in your proximity to share a service with requires sharing a lot of personal information. And an economy supported by big data sharing would work seamlessly and even anticipatorily across different service platforms. Despite the potential convenience it may provide, this would most likely be a hard sell to the consumers as privacy concerns persist. Nevertheless, as the sharing economy continues to grow, sooner or later the valuable data it collects will presumably be put into good use. In fact, this might have already happened, as many opt to log in on a new service with their Facebook accounts.

What Lay’s Is Teaming Up With Uber For

Posted on by Lab Team

Sing all the praises you want about ecommerce, one thing it has yet to really figure out is how to provide interested consumer with samples in a timely manner. Or has it now? 

Potato chips brand Lay’s is teaming up with car-on-demand service Uber to launch a campaign in NYC. The campaign makes use of UberRush, Uber’s courier service, to deliver a free picnic basket filled with Lay’s potato chips for consumers participating in the brand’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest. If successful, this unlikely partnership could potentially pave a new path for digital sampling and proximity-based marketing.

Uber and Lyft Racing to Launch New Carpooling Feature

Posted on by Lab Team

Yesterday, popular taxi-hailing app Uber unveiled the beta test of UberPool, a new carpooling feature that aims to match up Uber users who share a similar route and promises an additional 40% off to each rider compared to normal prices. Now Uber’s major competitor Lyft is also introducing its own carpooling feature, Lyft Line, which basically has the same carpooling function. Uber might have won attention from the press, but since its UberPool won’t be ready until next week, Lyft Line, which is already in use in San Francisco, leads in this lap. Whether the new carpooling features will help further erode car ownership remains to be seen, but competition is always good for the customers.

Uber Launches Ride-Share Feature

Posted on by Lab Team

Uber, the popular on demand ride service app, announced that the hackathon-founded feature of split ride payments is coming to life in the app. The feature is now live in the iOS store, and will be coming to Google Play in the near future. Uber says that you can now split fares by inviting friends from the contact list, or by entering their phone numbers during your trip. Once confirmed, Uber automatically divides the cost by however many riders are added. 

Lyft Raises $60 Million

Posted on by Lab Team

The popular car-sharing startup Lyft, part of the exploding ride-share market that’s also dominated by Uber and SideCar, recently finished a round of funding that totaled $60 million. The company leverages smartphones to provide alternatives to traditional forms of public transportation. Lyft is another example of the peer-to-peer economy, where people interact over the internet to exchange goods and services with the common goal of getting things done. Other, non-transportation related examples are Airbnb for lodging and TaskRabbit for everyday chores. Companies are picking up on this trend, with Pepsi using TaskRabbit to promote its soda by offering free bottles of Pepsi in exchange for undertaking people’s daily chores. Products like these attack structural inefficiencies within existing markets, and leverage new technology to undercut the problems at hand. Today, millions drove to work with empty seats in their cars; Lyft’s goal is to provide a pain-free, efficient method to fill them.  

Uber Rolls Into Singapore and Plans Further Asian Expansion

Posted on by Lab Team

Popular car service Uber has rolled into Singapore, signaling the beginning of a planned expansion for the growing company into several Asian markets.  Early tests of the service reveal that they are differentiating from other mobile-enabled car services by offering a premium service at a higher price.  Similar start-ups are turning their eyes to Asia as well, as they begin to explore opportunities outside Europe and North America, seeing it as a tech and entrepreneurial hub ripe for massive growth.