Research, UX, UI, App Design
Uber App Redesign
Improving Ease of Use, User Control, and Safety in the Uber Rider App
Design Brief
Improving the Uber Rider Experience
Despite Uber’s massive popularity, rider safety continues to be an issue for Uber users. In addition, some features such as Fare Splitting and Ride Preferences could be improved to help Uber stand out more from the competition.
The goal of this project was to revamp the Uber app in 9 weeks by pinpointing a few key features to reimagine and redesign. In a multi-disciplinary team of five Digital Media and UX design students, we assessed the current Uber experience with user interviews, designed from low fidelity to high fidelity, and conducted several round of usability tests.
User Interviews, Journey Mapping
User Interview Insights
As a team, we conducted user interviews with Uber users through Zoom video-calling to gain more insight into the ride experience. The following were key insights that guided our design efforts.
1. Users feel a lack of control over their ride experience
Uber users’ wide range of preferences and expectations for their ride often don’t get met, causing them to desire more control over their ride experience. Some riders preferred more conversation with their drivers, feeling awkward when there was too much silence; others felt their drivers could be too loud or talkative. Some riders enjoyed when they could control the music played in the car. Problems arose when they received a driver that could not speak English, complicating the pick-up and drop-off processes. While “Ride Preferences” and “Quiet” mode do currently exist within Uber, it is only available for premium rides, and unknown to any of the users we spoke to.
2. Problems occur during pickup
Riders experienced several problems during pickup, such as drivers unable to find the rider, a mismatch between the rider’s actual location and the location shown on the app, and issues with contacting the driver.
3. Riders feel unsafe
Many riders have had negative experiences with Uber drivers or feel unsafe when using Uber due to hearing stories of incidents from others. This caused feelings of anxiety when riding alone, and deterred some interview participants from using the service.
Rapid Prototyping, High Fidelity Designs
Designing New Features & Improvements
Giving the rider more control over their ride experience
To provide more User Control over the ride experience, and ensure that it consistently meets users’ personal needs and expectations, we created a way for riders to customize several aspects of the ride. From our user interviews, we discovered a desire to determine the conversation level, volume and type of music, and language spoken by the driver.
One of the trickiest parts was determining at which point in booking flow the customization would take place, and how users would access this menu on the screen. We decided that this would take place during the car choosing process, and become a part of that menu, instead of appearing as a pop-up.
Early design concepts for the “Ride Preference” feature, exploring sequencing and placement of the menu.
2. Splitting a fare with QR
The ability to split a fare with fellow riders differentiates Uber from its competitors. However, the feature is currently difficult to find and inconvenient to use, resulting in the feature being virtually unused by our interview participants.
To improve Ease of Use, we added a QR code feature where users can quickly split fares with their friends in seconds by scanning their personalized QR code. We also allowed users to access it early on in the core flow, before they’ve even booked the ride, to make the feature more accessible.
Design iterations of split fare feature, exploring a QR code scanner to retrieve a fellow rider’s account details.
3. Specify rider location with a photo
In order to help riders and drivers find each other during pickup, we created a photo tool for specifying the pickup location. While waiting for the Uber driver to arrive, riders can take and send a photo of the buildings and surroundings. This will help the driver figure out exactly where the pickup location is, what side of the street, what building to stop in front of, etc.
Exploring different communication methods between the rider and driver, including iterations of the Send a Photo feature.
4. Improving Rider Safety
We implemented a new step in the pickup process to reduce the number of safety incidents and ensure that the rider feels protected and secure. The secondary goal was to reduce the number of “failed pickups” (where the driver falsely reports that the rider has been picked up), and overall making Customer Support more accessible if something goes wrong. These safety features could be opted-in by those riders who desire extra security, and enabled/disabled at any time in the user’s Safety Settings.
First, the rider has to confirm that they have been safely picked up by the driver. They must input a personal safety PIN to confirm this before the ride begins. If the pickup has not properly occurred, or the rider feels unsafe in the car, the rider can contact customer service or Emergency Services. This allows the rider to access vital resources for each situation as quickly as possible.
Exploring different safety features and flows to address any issues that may arise throughout the pickup and ride experience.
5. Making it easier to order a ride with Suggested Trips and Ride Selection
We created a card-like interface on the home screen that displays past or frequent trips. This makes it quick and easy for commuters or frequent riders to choose the trips they need. We also carried this card-like interface over to the Ride Selection screen to make it easy to understand and navigate through the different ride options.
Final Screens
Impact
Our redesign improves the customization, safety, and style of the Uber experience while still keeping the same feel and features of the basic ride experience that Uber users have come to depend on. In our usability testing, users were extremely happy with the features we implemented and wanted to see Uber actually implement them. Users felt that the new features would make their ride experience easier, safer, and more enjoyable.
Validation Quotes from Uber Users:
“I can feel safe because the app is watching out for where I am.”
“I like these security features a lot. It made me feel like Uber actually wanted to ensure I’m good.”
“The font is nice and easy to read, and the icons work well and are easily understandable. It’s easy to find the important information.”
“I absolutely love [these new customize ride features]. Depending on my mood, I would wanna choose whether I want to talk to the driver, and the music.”
“I really like how you have the split fare option right away. It was confusing before how I had to pick the ride and then split the fare later.”
“I think if Uber actually had these features, it would make it a lot easier.”