[paulie_a]

It's kinda funny they tout their usage of GPS. I use Uber on a near daily basis and drivers by an large use Google maps. They have out right said "Uber sucks for directions"

And if you use express pools it will always say to go the wrong side of an intersection. I like uber because of the drivers, but their fancy technology is flawed.

[googlemike]

Please do not conflate GPS with navigation. There is a massive set of problems you can solve with high fidelity GPS Data (Uber knows it is a driver in a car, verifies it with another GPS entity (rider app reports GPS also), etc). There is not that much overlap between great GPS data and great maps - no amount of great GPS data will give you a good basemap. Please let me know if I am not making sense, I am more than happy to provide examples / explain further!

[mi_lk]

Can you expand on the difference between GPS and navigation?

[googlemike]

GPS is a system for determining your position in the world, usually in latitude and longitude.

Navigation is pathfinding in the real world + directions. GPS is useful (But far from the only) system for determining where you are. Navigation is often implemented as a route from point A (in lat, lng) to point B (in lat, lng) and then running an algorithm (such as dijkstra, or A*, but usually something far more advanced) from A to B. The algorithm runs on a routing graph of some kind, produced from processing real world map data.

[krastanov]

All that a GPS device gives you is your coordinates (latitude and longitude). It does not tell you whether these coordinates correspond to a street address (you need a map for that). It does not tell you how to move between two points (you need a pretty complicated set of routing algorithms and historical/real-time traffic congestion data to do that).

[martinald]

I've never seen an Uber driver not use Waze in London.

[melling]

I was in Colombia and South Africa last year. Those Uber drivers also used Waze.

[magoghm]

In Mexico City I always see them use Waze.

[freyir]

I believe they’re using GPS data here more for analytics, rather than navigation.

They can use GPS data to chart usage metrics, plan pool rides, check for anomalies, and harass journalists, for example.

[srean]

Indeed. What is even more strange about the use of google maps is that Uber bought Bing maps, I am sure for a hefty sum.