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The U.S. ride-hailing app collects huge amounts of data from the
billions of trips taken by customers which it uses to improve
its services and has recently started to make it available for a
number of cities including Washington D.C., Sydney and Boston.
"We get asked all the time 'Is there any way you can share more
data? We'd love to see where people are traveling in our city',"
Adam Gromis, who is responsible for environmental sustainability
at Uber, told Reuters.
The service, called Uber Movement, shows how long it takes to
make a journey between two points in a city at different times
of the day.
Uber is making the data available via a free website which can
be accessed by anyone with an Uber account, but it is aimed
particularly at city planners. (movement.uber.com)
To respect users' privacy, Uber Movement uses only aggregated
anonymised data.
Uber, which launched in Paris in 2011, has had a rocky
relationship with regulators across Europe who have accused it
of flouting their traditional licensing rules.
Protests by taxi drivers against the smartphone app turned
violent in 2015 when Paris cabbies overturned cars and burned
tyres.
Uber has suffered a tumultuous few months that led to former CEO
and co-founder Travis Kalanick being forced out after a series
of boardroom controversies and regulatory battles in a number of
U.S. states and around the world.
Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has struck a less
confrontational approach than his predecessor - particularly in
London where Uber is challenging a decision by the transport
regulator to strip it of its operating license in the city.
"As a technology company we can play a role in helping cities
make data-driven decisions for the benefit of the environment
and its citizens," Alexandre Droulers, Uber's general manager
for new mobility in western Europe, said.
Transport planning usually relies on expensive household travel
surveys which are conducted on average every 10 years in the
Paris region, making Uber's data a lot more up to date.
(Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Adrian Croft)
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