Uber Opens Its API
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
And now Uber is opening their API? IMO, this is a huge deal. Perhaps working with Concur really drove home the sheer size of the corporate travel machine, and the massive opportunities they were missing out on by not participating in its web of partners and exclusive contracts. I know Uber already has VIP (in NYC at least) and is coming out with corporate discounts, but I'm betting we see Uber move a lot more in that direction.
If they aren't offering a cash percentage, I don't think they're going to find many takers. I certainly wouldn't integrate a new API in exchange for Uber credits.
Edit: On the affiliate page, it says "Cash rewards coming soon" but it seems rather odd that they wouldn't launch with that. Generally affiliate programs pay money.
Am I missing a point or why would anyone use it if you don't get cash at the moment, get $5 less, it only works for US and you can't register people via the Api?
It's pretty a pretty basic implementation at the moment (you can currently book a ride based on an address, and not much else), but allowed me to move to FirefoxOS for my primary phone - Uber being the last 'must-have' app for me that didn't have a webapp version.
Having something official to work with (assuming they don't go down the Twitter route of not allowing anything that replicates the functionality of the main Uber app) would help a lot.
They have some deep linking APIs to start their apps on Android, iOS, or a mobile web site - but none of those will work on Glass. I suppose, theoretically, I can make the HTTP requests to their mobile site as if I were a browser and a user tapping the right buttons, but that it is a lot more brittle than having an API. It will break any time they change their web site.
Being able to say, "OK, Glass,""Get me a ride" and the car shows up would be exciting. "OK, Glass" "Show me the cost and time estimate to go to the Design Center" is just a boring advertisement. Right now their API just allows boring advertisements, pretty much.
You could build a companion app, send the HTTP request you mention, which would trigger a push notification to that user's companion app/device, which could then trigger a deep link to the Uber app :)
What about requesting a ride? Yes, we’ve implemented that endpoint as well, but because calling it immediately dispatches a real driver in the real world, we’re releasing it in a more controlled fashion, starting with a small set of partners. Stay tuned for more on that, and please let us know if you’re interested in being added to the whitelist.
The odd thing is that Uber isn't integrated into the iOS Maps app as a transit provider. So you can't actually use it in that fashion.
The API appears to be well thought out--except for the epoch timestamps without time zone offsets :-(
% date +"%s"; date; date -u
1408580844
Wed Aug 20 17:27:24 PDT 2014
Thu Aug 21 00:27:24 UTC 2014Consider these questions: Do I use Uber more often before or after noon? Is this a photo of a sunrise or a of a sunset? How late do I typically go to bed?
In the case of Uber we could try to guess the time zone from the coordinates, but it's not trivial.
And to follow-on, the practical difference is that they are a lot less terrible than most existing cab / car services.
I'd hope that drivers who Uber estimates are N minutes away from pickup but consistently take N+5 to actually make the pickup are subject to penalties.
If it's cold, dark, whatever outside I can call an Uber via the app and know when they're arriving. I can see how long the expected delay is to plan wrapping things up accordingly.
My experience with Taxi's in most of the major US markets is that coverage is spotty, fares can be variable, credit-card acceptance is hit or miss, and the cars and drivers are generally sub-par.
Comparing taxi's to Uber is like comparing a model rocket to the Space X program.
I've used Uber once and it was great but from my experience with taxis Uber isn't offering much extra.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/08/13/uber-employees-a...
Uber is shady as fuck, so is the cab industry. Pointing out the degrees to which they are shady is not particularly useful and serves only to rationalize supporting unethical actors.
No one's going to care how the front office of Uber acts if the product they offer is solid.
Microsoft still made immensely popular and good products, even while they were stomping all over the tech industry in the 90s.
I agree that a good product coming out of a company with abusive practices behind-the-scenes is unlikely to be boycotted widely, but the company is still shady.
The frustrating thing is that they're so damn good at their product, and sticking it to an industry that desperately needs a firm foot up their behind.
But I agree, I'm not going to give my money to a company that's so willfully unethical - and unapologetically, repeatedly so.
Here Uber never denies that they canceled rides, only that Lyft did the same.
Also Uber did this to another competitor, Gett, and pretty much copped to it.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/ubers-dirty-trick-campaign-again... http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/technology/social/uber-gett/
It's called "hypocrisy". Lyft is being a hypocrite.
I see this as one of the few social problems that can be solved with technology. Use the tech to make the incentives for this behaviour go away.
I hope you don't wear t-shirts made by slave kids in Honduran sweatshops, eat food fertilized by Monsanto, or buy anything that gives money to the Koch brothers. I hope you never drink Coke, since they kill unionizers in Colombia and Guatemala. While you're at it, I hope you never use Eclipse, since IBM supplied the Nazis.
Every company is dirty. Every single one. Even your YC-startup is taking money from VCs taking money from east coast money guys making money from all of the above. Capitalism is a dirty game.
Realizing this, you have a few alternatives. You can try to smart-consume your way out of the situation, which is laughably futile; you can turn libertarian and start justifying it in terms of economic efficiency; or you can realize that we have no option but to play a rigged game while there isn't another game in town and start creating something better.
Choose wisely.
Uber is certainly not the least moral company and being upset about them prank-calling Lyft is just laughable. When was the last time you drank Coke or wore a Gildan t-shirt? Hell, look at the tags on the clothes you're wearing right now and try to come up with the moral authority to chide Uber.
For that the valuation seems right and may even have to rise. It's all on paper. Think of Uber as a global taxi and delivery-service - basically aiming to become a new monopoly or the strongest player there. Taxi is very fragmented with money going to lots of pockets. Uber is one pocket.