Interesting info. Looking forward to the next part in this series!

About two weeks ago Uber expanded Pool here in Austin so it’s available 24/7, with more aggressive pricing (and more aggressive promotion), so I had my first Pool rides around that point. As someone who’s used Lyft Line since it came online at SXSW 2015, Uber’s algo is comparatively aggressive. Ride #1 was a reasonable route but I wasn’t matched until in the vehicle about to take a direct route to my destination. Ride #2 was also matched about a minute after I got in the car, and detoured in the opposite direction I needed to go, and probably lengthened the entire trip by 15 minutes when everything was said and done. The ride was cheap, but the jury’s still out on whether the discount was worth the detour. And there’s no way to indicate to Uber that they gave me a crappy route (they probably know and don’t care).