We humans are suckers for convenience, and Uber—disrupter numero uno—knows that very well. Want to meet up with your friend who’s at a way cooler bar than the one you’re currently occupying? No problem. Text your friend, get the location, plug it into Uber, and then finish your drink at your less cool bar while you wait for your car to arrive. But what if you want to go straight to your friend and skip the texting? Save that extra 15 seconds? Now you can.
The app’s new Uber to Person function allows users to plug in a person as a destination rather than an address. Simply ping your friend with a location request and, when it’s accepted, voila! You’re on your way to your real destination: human companionship. “With Uber, you are going from point A to B,” Uber product manager Yuhki Yamashita told Mashable. “The new Uber to Person feature recognizes that people aren’t just going to point B, they are trying to get to each other.”
It’s fairly easy to set up, too. Just sync your contacts with Uber, input your friend as the destination, and then both of you will receive ETA and location updates throughout the trip. Your friend can’t move, though; the destination locks once set and then expires after 30 minutes. This seems like a great opportunity to prank the incoming friend because, once the location is set, incoming friend won’t know if “static” friend moves, but “static” friend will know exactly when and where incoming friend is arriving. (And when I say prank, I’m talking birthday surprise party-level prank, nothing too malicious. Remember, these are friends!).
The new product was teased in November as part of the Uber redesign. CEO Travis Kalanick declared that it’s part of the company’s mission to help people “feel like you’re living in the future.” With self-driving cars, this new Uber to Person app, and other modes of profligate convenience, that future is feeling lazier and lazier every day.
What do you think of this new app? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: Uber
Featured Image: Alper Çuğun/Flickr
