Uber knows a lot about you by the time your ass hits the seat of a car. Now, it plans to offer you the option to discover a curated stream of content designed to fit the specifics of your journey.
The idea, reports The Verge, is that third-party apps could build in an Uber button, which—with the user’s permission, mercifully—would allow the software to access information about your ride. From there, the app could rustle up a tailored selection of content. That could mean anything from a 5-minute news roundup to a 30-minute music playlist.
That’s the best case, of course. By opening up access to your journey details you could also be on the receiving end of targeted ads, perhaps for a bar or restaurant near your destination. But the ability to opt into—and swiftly back out of—the service should allow users some control over that kind of unwanted information.
The new feature is being rolled out as an update to Uber’s API, so you can expect to see it as an option in apps over the coming months. Whether you choose to use it is up to you.
[Verge]
Image by Noel Tock under Creative Commons license
