At Uber, our mission is to bring transportation as reliable as running water to everyone, everywhere: just tap a button and your car arrives in minutes. While simple on the surface, the seamlessness of the Uber experience belies the enormous complexity that powers it. But now that we have this fundamental capability in place — a capability we like to think of as converting bits to atoms — in over 40 countries around the world, there are so many things we would love to see built on top of it.
Enter the Uber API.
As of August, we officially opened our API to all developers with access to many of the primitives that power Uber’s magical experience. Apps can pass a destination address to the Uber app, display pickup times, provide fare estimates, access trip history and more.
What about requesting a ride? Yes, we’ve implemented that endpoint as well, but because calling it immediately dispatches a real driver in the real world, we’re releasing it in a more controlled fashion, starting with a small set of partners. Stay tuned for more on that, and please let us know if you’re interested in being added to the whitelist.
Along with the Uber API, we also launched our new Affiliate Program, which enables developers to earn credits toward free Uber rides.
We believe that any app with a map is a potential Uber API partner. To kick things off, we’re launching with 11 fantastic companies, all of whom have already integrated with the API and are rolling out in cities around the world: Expensify, Hinge, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Momento, OpenTable, Starbucks Coffee Company, Tempo Smart Calendar, Time Out, TripAdvisor, TripCase and United Airlines.
Here are just a few examples of how our partner apps are making it even easier to get where you want to go with Uber:
- Dinner date? Request an Uber to your favorite restaurant right from the OpenTable app. Your driver will arrive already knowing where you are headed.
- Catching a flight? The United mobile app shows ETAs of the closest drivers and fare estimates, so you can get reliable ride to and from the airport for less.
- Night out? Time Out shows different Uber options — from low-cost to luxury — so you can be sure to arrive in style to the city’s best nightlife.
- Need a place to stay? Book a room through the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts app and request a ride to your hotel right from the reservation screen.
- Want a recap of your journey? Use Momento to view a timeline of your Uber trip history alongside other moments in your life.
As excited as we were about this launch, we’re truly just getting started. Our team will continue working to add functionality, provide support, address feedback and deliver even more value to our developers.
We are so looking forward to being surprised by the awesome stuff you build on top of the Uber API! #bitsToAtoms
Check out our sample app on GitHub and ask us questions on Stack Overflow.
⚀ To get updates from the Uber Developer team in the future, follow our publication on Medium or follow us on Twitter.
Posted by Uber Developers
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