Uber Expands Color-Coded 'Beacons' to Four More Cities to Help Riders Find Their Drivers

One year after testing color-coded rider pickups in Seattle through a system called "SPOT," Uber today announced that the initiative is now called "Uber Beacon," and beginning December 16 it will expand to Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle in the United Kingdom. Uber Beacon is a piece of hardware that attaches to a driver's windshield and "uses color-pairing technology" to match up drivers with their riders.

In the Uber app, riders will be able to select from an endless amount of color options when calling for a ride. As their driver gets to the pickup destination, the Uber Beacon in the windshield will match the color the rider picked, making it easy to find a ride at night and at crowded venues. The new hardware has also been designed to match Uber's rider app logo.

On the rider side of things, users can hold up their smartphone to display their unique color and make it quicker for the driver to find and pick them up.

Uber said the Beacon itself can be installed easily, removed in seconds, and lasts for "several evenings without charge."

Enter Uber Beacon, designed for simplicity and scalability. Drivers can install it themselves within minutes and then remove it in seconds. And with a powerful battery and Bluetooth connection to our driver app, it can last several evenings without charge, while keeping the dashboard cable-free. And our technology also allows for customized color palettes and animation styles to celebrate events and holidays —imagine Beacon pulsing St. Patrick’s Day green or colorful rainbows all weekend for Pride.

Uber drivers in Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle will begin receiving Uber Beacons at community events in preparation for New Year's Eve celebrations within each city. Riders wanting the helpful system to make it to their city have some hope, with the company noting: "Our goal is to make Beacons the new standard for the Uber experience, so in 2017 we’ll be expanding Uber Beacon to more cities across the world."

Tag: Uber

Top Rated Comments

ReneR

89 months ago

this is relevant to mac rumors, how?

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dontwalkhand

Maybe its just me, but I've never had a problem identifying my Uber. I think its great that they are making it easier to do so from a distance, but is this really a problem that needs to be solved?

When you're in a nightlife district with 8,000 in a row, something like this makes it much easier to figure out which one is yours.

Or even after work or school.

This would have been helpful last New Year's Eve.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

verniesgarden

I think it's helpful in high rideshare volume locations like airports

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

mook101

It can be pretty difficult at 2am when bars are closing on a weekend as well!!!

dukeblue219

What!!? They close 2am? LOL
Where do u live dud, disneyworld? A bar never closes man u can stay they forever if u want and drink mucho. What kind of place closes 2am?? Jeezzz

So... as someone who doesn't ever stay out past about 11pm since I had a kid, are there many cities that DO allow bars to stay open after 2am? Even in my college and slightly post-college days I remember that bars always closed at 2am or 3am at the latest (in DC I think).

C DM

There are likely some cities/states/regions/countries that can have them open 24/7. Things like that are different throughout the world, and even within different countries. It's interesting that people find something like that surprising one way or another.

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