“I’m at the gate. Which gate?”
Find My Ride Spot: reducing pickup confusion with landmarks and a shared point of reference.
01 / THE PROBLEM
What needed to make more sense?
A map pin can get a driver to the right street without getting them to the right gate. Riders and drivers then compensate through calls, waiting, and repeated explanations, especially at malls, stations, and gated societies.
02 / DISCOVERY
How I approached it
- Collected nine survey responses and conducted in-person interviews, supported by Figma and Lovable prototype testing.
- Asked riders to reconstruct their last confusing pickup and explain how they resolved it.
- Explored willingness to walk to a clearer pickup point and whether landmark instructions would earn trust.
03 / PRODUCT DECISIONS
The proposed direction
- Smart Pickup Spot: suggest a nearby landmark-based meeting point and align the rider and driver to it.
- Hyper-local pickup map: show named gates, driveways, and entrances at complex locations.
- Driver Visibility Boost: make car details and direction easier to identify when the driver is close.
- Preserve calling as a trusted fallback while improving shared pickup context.
04 / MEASURES & LIMITS
What success would look like.
This is discovery research and prototype feedback, not a deployed Uber feature. The small survey sample is directional. The source contains inconsistent confidence percentages, so I have omitted that numerical claim. Proposed evaluation signals include calls before pickup, idle time, post-booking location changes, and coordination-related cancellations.
05 / THE TAKEAWAY
The thought I’d carry forward.
Cancellation counts can conceal the real problem: some riders cancel for a stuck driver. Measure the work people do to make a pickup happen, not only whether the ride was cancelled.
06 / ALL THE DETAILS
The original work, in full.
The complete research, diagrams, screens, and supporting details are in the original document.
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