How does Uber’s technology strive for more optimal prices?
Uber continues to evolve its marketplace technology to help riders and drivers find matches at prices that work for both parties, even as marketplace conditions change (sometimes drastically, like we saw during the global pandemic).
Why are trips that seem similar sometimes priced differently?
Each city has its own unique dynamics. For example, road layouts, traffic patterns, and supply and demand dynamics can differ dramatically throughout the day from one area of a city to another. Uber’s technology works to account for these hyper-local dynamics to find prices that work for riders and drivers on each specific trip at each specific time.
Finding better prices
A one-size-fits-all approach to pricing leads to poor outcomes: riders frequently choose not to request trips and drivers do not accept trips, resulting in poor reliability for riders and fewer earnings opportunities for drivers. Uber’s technology is designed to find the prices that work better for both riders and drivers, accounting for the complex and dynamic factors that affect a marketplace.
Dynamic pricing helps expand access to rides and work opportunities
Uber’s technology uses real-time inputs and longer-term patterns to find more optimal prices for both riders and drivers, which may mean making up or down adjustments for riders or drivers. These inputs and patterns include real-time supply and demand (surge pricing), drivers’ aggregated and anonymized responses to similar trip requests, and long-term rider demand patterns across routes and areas of a city.
Price technology helps connect cities
Every ride that connects one part of a city to another helps spread opportunity. When we help more users find successful matches with our technology it can help make transportation more accessible and reliable for riders in neighborhoods, and it opens up new earning opportunities for drivers too.
Understanding rider demand
Many millions of trips occur on the Uber platform across cities each day. As more trips occur,we have more information about the kinds of trips riders request and the kinds that drivers frequently accept that we can use to build technology to better serve riders and drivers.
Predicting discounts for shared rides
When more people take a shared ride on a specific route and time of day, more people can share the cost. Predictable cost savings enable lower prices on these routes, resulting in more trips and more business for drivers.
Some of the features described on this page do not apply or are not available in all US markets, including California and in markets outside of the US. As we work to improve the marketplace, we may test functionality and pricing in ways not described on this page.
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