Moving From Technology to Industry Solutions

By Christian Umbach
Since the launch of our API two years ago, it’s evolved from a simple set of endpoints to make ride requests to a broad range of developer tools and technologies that cover a range of use cases. During this time, we have also seen innovation leaders from several industries such as Amazon, Foursquare, and United Airlines integrate Uber to create magical moments for their customers and users.

To inspire even more businesses and brands to seize the opportunities presented by the Uber Developer Platform, we’re adding Products and Solutions sections to our developer site to better explain the spirit and details of these opportunities.

Our Products pages explain and contextualize the range of developer products that we offer, and describe the types of problems that they can solve for your app or business. Across Rides, Trip Experiences, and Rush Logistics, we now provide the features and benefits of the tools and technologies available. Learn more.

William Gibson famously quipped that “the future is here — it’s just not evenly distributed”. To accelerate the spread of that future, we’ve create a new section of the developer site called Solutions. In it, we list some of the best ways to use Uber’s range of developer products for specific industries. Check them out here.

As I worked on this content over the summer, a few key themes stood out to me, regardless of the underlying industry vertical:

Thanks to Uber’s scale across more than 500 cities around the world, you can help your users get from A to B almost anywhere in the world.

Partners such as Citymapper, Moovit, and Transit App have enriched the commuting experience for millions of users by adding the option to request an Uber right from their apps. Similarly, shopping malls and entertainment venues with their own apps or web properties can help their customers get reliable rides to their physical locations, making it easier, more relaxing, and more fun to go out.

With over two billion Uber trips taken to date, we felt that it would be super useful to let those riders share information about when they are on-the-go with the apps and brands they trust and use regularly. Our Trip Experiences API was designed to serve this purpose and provides key trip details about a rider’s location, pickup and destination locations, and ETA’s.

You can imagine how hotels can create more delightful memories for travelers as they receive a personal greeting upon arrival. Airlines can help fliers magically rebook their flight if a seat on an earlier flight became available. Travelers will love brands that take the hassle out of travel, and this API is perfect for that. Similarly, entertainment providers can leverage contextual information to curate the experience to the venue and get attendees in the right mood for the show. Even healthcare providers can leverage this feature to increase efficiencies in their process. No more waiting for doctors, no more waiting patients.

Real-time on-demand deliveries help you break free from the limitations of both traditional brick-and-mortar and online commerce. Whether you’re building your own on-demand business or extending the reach of your retail stores with our logistical services, UberRUSH will help you broaden your reach in an on-demand world.

Innovative companies are thinking about how to bring the retail experience home, from the dressing room to the pharmacy. One of our enterprising partners Pythagoras, a design-led pizza delivery concept, built and scaled on top of the UberRUSH delivery service — freeing them from the overhead of maintaining their own courier fleet.

We have gathered these and many more examples to inspire you to start building on the Uber Developer Platform to drive new revenue, delight customers and differentiate your user experience.

As always, we can’t wait to see what you build next!

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