Science at Uber: Bringing Research to the Roads

At Uber, we take advanced research work and use it to solve real world problems. In our Science at Uber video series, Uber employees talk about how we apply data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other innovative technologies in our daily work.

For Waleed Kadous, Principal Engineer, the impact of the Uber platform is rooted in its interaction with the physical world. In his role, Waleed assesses which technologies our engineering teams can use to improve the reliability and performance of these interactions.

One such technology, GPS, can perform poorly in urban canyons and cause sub-optimal pick-up and drop-off experiences for Uber rideshare customers. In our quest to tackle this issue, Uber learned of research out of the University of California, Santa Barbara that was applicable to our needs when used at scale. The researchers joined Uber  and we built a solution that leverages the very same occlusion of satellites that inhibits GPS as a signal to help improve location accuracy on the platform. 

Check out our other Science at Uber videos:

Interested in applying the latest research to solving real world problems? Consider joining our team!