Uber is popular for getting around, but the app is apparently unsatisfied with taking you to places. It wants to take you to people, instead, and it’s introduced a new feature that’s ever so slightly creepy. Now, you can Uber to a person, instead of a place.
The idea is simple: If you want to catch up with a friend, you pick their contact and Uber sends them a request to temporarily share their location. If your friend accepts, the Uber arrives, you jump in, and you catch up with them at the bar, restaurant, or wherever they happen to be. Uber rather unfortunately is selling this as “People are the new places,” which is a rather, ah, impersonal way of putting it.
Of course, it’s easy to see this backfiring badly in a world where a substantial minority of alleged adults still think taking your phone and turning your wallpaper into a photo of their genitals is the height of comedy. Or, for that matter, with a company that’s been repeatedly accused of being absurdly cavalier with your personal data. And there is also the pretty basic question of why Uber wants to solve a problem that can easily be fixed with a text or two. Is making plans really that much of an inconvenience that people would rather do it through an app? We’ll find out soon enough.
(via Mashable)