Uber has introduced a simple color-based gadget that'll help you find your ride. It's Bluetooth-enabled and sits inside a car's windshield. Passengers can look around for the vehicle that has a Beacon with a matching color, helping them both find an Uber and find the right one.
After a driver accepts your ride request, you'll be asked to pick a color. Whichever color you pick is the one that will appear on the Beacon inside your driver's vehicle.
You can match the license plate, you can match the make and model. But this is kind of another tool we're giving you to personalize your ride.- Nikhil Goel, Uber
This system is similar to Spot, a product that was piloted late last year. It consisted of a thin LED light strip that could also change color in a similar way.
Knowing that Spot was well-received in Seattle, we set out to design new and improved hardware. We knew we had to design this to be seen at night, being very sensitive to the installation process, etc. Really the goal was to develop something that we could scale.- John Badalamenti, Uber
Uber is initially going to distribute Beacon to drivers in Miami, Nashville, Denver, Belfast, and Newcastle. More cities will receive the gadget next year.
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