At Uber, we want to use technology to make carpooling affordable and reliable for riders, and effortless for drivers. It’s why over two years ago, we launched uberPOOL to make it easy for people headed in the same direction at the same time to share the journey. Since launch, we’ve been hard at work improving the product, and addressing some of the most common feedback we’ve heard from drivers and riders. While some of the updates are visible to riders and drivers – like showing the cost of the ride and the time riders can expect to arrive at their destination before requesting – there are also improvements being made behind the scenes. Let’s take a look. Faster Pickups We’ve all been there. Your uberPOOL arrives to pick up another rider, but he or she isn’t ready to go. You and your driver are left wondering where the other rider is, and how much longer you’ll have to wait. Quick pickups are critical to the uberPOOL experience, so we’re working hard to minimize time spent waiting for riders. Status Notifications for Riders: It’s important that riders be curbside when taking uberPOOL, however, we’ve not done a great job at communicating that. So we’re adding real-time instructions and updates for riders in-app. Riders will soon see updates like “be ready outside,” and “leaving shortly” along with updated push notifications to remind them to be curbside, and notify them that their ride will shortly depart. Countdown Timer for Drivers: Drivers don’t alway know when to move on if a rider doesn’t show up, so we’ve built a timer in the driver app. When a driver arrives at the pickup location, a timer counts down from 2 minutes. If the rider isn’t in the car within that time, the driver is prompted to move on with the ride and collect a no-show fee to compensate for lost time.