Artificial Intelligence in Practice

40Uber: Using Artificial Intelligence To Do Everything

Uber built its business model around disruptive use of data – pairing public hire drivers with passengers by correlating location data from both parties’ smartphones. This meant it could assign drivers to waiting passengers far more quickly than the traditional taxi companies whose business it disrupted so dramatically.

Although it may not seem like it, Uber has been around for nearly 10 years now and in that time it has increasingly invested in artificial intelligence (AI).

In fact, it has been referred to as the first “AI-first” company,¹ meaning that every business function from marketing to the core business function of providing passenger journeys is built on AI.

What Problems Is Artificial Intelligence Helping To Solve?

A major challenge faced by traditional taxi hire businesses is how to efficiently get customers home while incurring a minimum of expense through driver wages and mileage.

They also have to ensure a speedy response when passengers ask for a ride, so as not to lose custom to other companies or public transport providers.

Additionally, drivers (particularly late at night) sometimes face problems themselves because they have to deal with passengers who may be drunk and abusive.

These – along with a whole host of others – are some of the problems that Uber is tackling using AI.

How Is Artificial Intelligence Used In Practice?

Uber uses AI for its core business of despatching drivers to passengers ...