Uber 'Trip Experiences' Make Travel Time Less Boring

Self-driving cars are the future, and in an effort to win over consumers, advocates have pointed toward all the extra free time such technology will inject into one's day. Instead of spending an hour or more every day stuck in traffic commuting to work, you'll be able to spend that time napping, lounging, or playing. Of course, self-driving cars are still being worked on, and the closest we can get to no-effort rides today are taxies and Uber. For its part, Uber wants to make trips taken through its platform a little less boring.

If your Uber trip is on the long side and you don't feel like staring out the window, the ridesharing service's new Trip Experiences might be the solution. In a statement recently, Uber said it has launched Trip Experiences as a developer feature for those who want to connect Uber riders with their own app. Riders who give permission to Trip Experiences will receive content tailored to the amount of time they're estimated to spend in the car.

A five minute ride, for example, might result in a 5-minute video Trip Experience to give them a quick primer on the most recent news. The "Experience" will depend on what kind of apps the user has downloaded, as the apps utilizing it will reach out to the Uber app for trip details.

Says Uber, this is its' biggest API update since the launch of Ride Request nearly a year ago. This is the company's latest push to get developers onboard with its platform; previously, we've seen things like Messenger add integration with Uber for ordering rides without leaving the app.

SOURCE: Uber