Uber tests color-coded cars to reduce ride mix-ups

Uber has revolutionized the public transportation market, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own flaws. There’s the trouble of identifying which ride is yours when among a number of Uber users at a public event, or trying to find your ride on a busy street at night, or, god forbid, the fear of getting into a car that isn’t even an Uber. Well, the company is now trying out a solution that seems obvious in hindsight: color-coded lights displayed on the windshield.

The system is dubbed SPOT, and Uber is currently testing it in Seattle. The driver just needs to put a colored LED light on their car’s windshield, as in the image above. From there, riders can press a colored button within the app as car gets close, causing the light to match the color.

Even better is that the system can be helpful to drivers as well. If passengers hold down one of the buttons, their phone’s screen will light up that color, allowing them to hold it in the air to signal the driver. This could reduce the time involved in riders and Uber drivers finding each other, and in turn reaching destinations quicker.

Uber doesn’t say when it plans to bring SPOT to other cities, but as long as the system turns out to be well received, it seems like a no-brainer move.

SOURCE Uber