Uber has always made the act of ordering a cab on your phone easy. The uber beacon is one of those technologies on the background that makes things much more easier. Driver basic information such as names, photo, and the vehicle displayed when you order an Uber ride has proven insufficient.
Although it proves sufficient in a not so crowded environment. however, a place with several cars would require something extra.
What is Uber Beacon
It’s to crosscheck the license plate of multiple vehicles when expecting a ride, especially in the dark or in front of busy hotels and airports.
The uber beacon is created to resolve these inconvenient situations it helps to pinpoint your ride even if the place is swarming with cars or in a crowd. The technology behind it is color-pairing technology. It helps riders know their ride easily via a Bluetooth-enabled beacon device is placed behind a driver’s windshield.
The device has an Uber app logo that glows brightly in a color the rider chooses within the app. Hence it causes the car to stand in the midst of similar-looking cars.
How Does Beacon Work
If the uber driver you are paired with has an Uber Beacon on his dashboard, you will be prompted to set a color. Proceed to choose a color on the appearing selector interface. will appear. Tap and hold the slide then drag to the shade of color you want.
At it point, watch out for the car that matches the shade of color you have selected. Should you decide to modify the color, it automatically changes on the vehicle. Thus the uber beacon responds as well.
Note that not all Uber drivers have an uber beacon. I am sure that the company is working to make it available on all its cars and in all its coverage cities.
Live Location Sharing
Live location sharing is another feature that enables riders to easily connect with riders. Although the driver gets the locations of riders during pickups, it still difficult to connect even with the uber beacon especially in a busy public place. This usually results in some type of delay and prompts one or more phone calls or text messages between rider and driver.
However a combination of the uber beacon and live location sharing, it is difficult not to connect with your driver. The live location sharing, enable drivers to assertain your exact location through their app interface even if you are on the move (walking).
You might need to enable manually enable the service manually. This functionality is not on by default and therefore requires some manual intervention on the rider’s part if they wish to activate it. After a pickup, you’ll notice a grey icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Tap this icon until a message pops up labeled Show drivers your live location. Select the CONFIRM button at this point.
A new icon would appear at the bottom right-hand corner of your map, notating that your live location sharing is on. To disable this feature at any time, simply tap on this icon and follow the subsequent prompts. You can also toggle live location sharing off and on via Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Location -> Share Live Location from Uber’s main menu.
