Ride hailing taxi app firm Uber is betting on smart charging, emissions tracking and incentives for users to book electric vehicles, as part of its push towards a green, sustainable mobility future.
“Our London riders experience the greenest ways to use Uber in the world, by electric car, by bike, by scooter, hybrid boat, coach and now even the Eurostar,” Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said at a sustainability event in central London attended by the firm’s global bosses.
“That’s no accident. World-leading policies in London and the UK to lower emissions and clean up transportation have had a significant impact, and are having a significant impact as we speak today.”
He added that driving emissions to zero was “the defining challenge of our generation”.
Smart charging powered by AI
Uber announced a raft of eco-focused features and initiatives on Thursday morning at the event, including building a smart charging feature for drivers in its app.
The feature uses machine learning – a type of artificial intelligence – to provide real-time data on traffic, charging station prices and charging availability, as well as to monitor traffic and battery levels, to help drivers work out the best times and locations to charge their electric vehicles.
Uber will also not offer the drivers any new trips they don’t have the battery life left to complete, such as long airport runs.
“If I’m a driver, I absolutely want to know where the chargers are, but I’d actually welcome a proposal [where] my driver app will go: ‘typically this evening in the Camden area is very busy. Hey, before going to Camden, why don’t you make a detour into Islington? There’s a free charger. It’s a bit quiet at the moment,” Uber’s general manager for the UK, Andrew Brem, explained to the Standard.
“Why don’t you spend half an hour topping up another 10 percentage points? Because that’s the other thing with an electric vehicle. I always fill my car up full. That’s not what you necessarily do with an EV. It’s just a different behaviour.”
Drivers will have to opt into having their car batteries monitored remotely by Uber – this feature will not happen automatically. Mr Brem stressed that the ride hailing app firm was taking drivers’ privacy seriously.
“What I know from working within Uber is that it will be fully explored and it will be 100% compliant with whatever’s required. So that I have total confidence on,” he added.
Uber’s other green initiatives
Some of the other features include a tracker that tells passengers how much carbon emissions they have avoided by taking either Uber Green or Comfort Electric rides; “green curb” priority pick-up points for riders at airports if they choose a green pick-up option; and eco-friendly route suggestions to help drivers be more fuel-efficient.
Heathrow has also launched dedicated Uber pickup with Uber Green signage and riders will receive a 10% discount when selecting Uber Green at the airport.
Apart from ride-hailing, Uber is also introducing a green packaging feature for Uber Eats customers, which lets user work out which restaurants use sustainable packaging. This will be available in London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam and Taipei, with a view to all restaurants on the app switching to sustainable packaging by 2030.
And all Uber Eats couriers will need to use zero emission vehicles by 2040.
Uber is also expanding its car-sharing service, which enables people to borrow a car when they need one. This service is available in Australia and will soon launch in Toronto and Boston.
