Uber Plans To Kill Surge Pricing With Machine Learning (npr.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Surge pricing is a familiar term for any regular Uber rider -- or driver. It's when you call an Uber, and the price of a ride is two, three, or four times more as a result of greater demand brought on by a sporting event or weather event nearby. For riders, it's an annoyance, but for drivers, it's a perk as it usually results in more pocket change. Inside Uber, surge pricing is considered a market failure, and a problem to be solved. "That's where machine learning comes in. That's where the next generation comes in," says Jeff Schneider, engineering lead at Uber Advanced Technologies Center. "Because now we can look at all this data, and we can start to make predictions." Everyone knows that when a Beyonce concert ends, for example, there's going to be a lot of demand for Uber drivers. Schneider explains, "[What's harder] is to find those Tuesday nights when it's not even raining and for some reason there's demand -- and to know that's coming. That's machine learning." With enough of the right data inputs, computer algorithms can do the research that Uber drivers already do -- only better, "so the surge pricing never even has to happen," Schneider says.

Comments

Re:Perk?

[xevioso]

Thing is, here in San Francisco, Taxis are doing rather well, despite all the publicity to the contrary.

It's actually quite easy to catch cabs in many parts of the city now and they are often better, because cabs have gotten their act together and are now much more responsive to folks looking for them, and they accept cash. Also, many of the companies now have an app (Flywheel) that can be used just like Uber and Lyft's app. To be honest, I actually prefer Taxis.

Re:Why should uber exist at all?

[fluffernutter]

Taxi drivers have been shot a lot but there was only one in the UK that conducted a shooting, ever. I looked it up.