As a young adult, living in the city, my main mode of transportation is through Uber, even though I own a personal vehicle. I find myself using Uber in situations such as the following: to arrive quickly at a destination or at home when I have heavy items and want to avoid difficult parking situations and to steer clear of the crowdedness of public transport during peak times.
Why does this service need to be provided?
One of the main selling points of Uber is that it provides a cheaper, comfortable, and convenient alternative to other car services such as taxis and car rentals, and even public transport. To further the potential for Uber to be used in everyday life, as opposed to other modes of transportation, it is important to consider the unaccounted for ways that individuals have adapted Uber to be used for, which not only affects riders but also the drivers.
Although most rideshare applications are designed to help individuals travel from point A to point B, some attempt to use them as a delivery service for their cargo. Using rideshare applications as a means to transport cargo arises from the reality that renting cars and moving-trucks are quite costly and not ideal when the items only need to travel a short distance. This workaround is not always successful because many drivers are not equipped or ready to handle the cargo. Currently there is no systematic solution in the Uber app. Uber Cargo is a specialized feature to aid Uber riders in accomplishing this task smoothly, pleasurably, and quickly.
User Research.
The first step of our design process was to understand our target users and observe the issues and opportunities that could drive the success of our feature. We needed to identify clear and non-trivial problems that our target audience experienced. Through conducting user research, we were able to explore the potential for the integration of the feature Uber Cargo, and how it would best be used. We started by conducting interviews and asking open-ended questions guided by the following goals:
Problem Statement.
Uber riders do not have a convenient way to notify their driver that they are carrying surplus cargo, resulting in uncertainty in whether the driver is equipped and willing to carry the cargo until pickup time.
Personas.
To understand how we would design our solution and align our goals to specific user groups, we developed a set of personas that were inspired by our user research. Being that the user demographic spans the entire age range, Uber Cargo intends to be a useful feature for a user of any age. Therefore, the developed personas demonstrate users from the lower age range and upper age range.
Prototyping.
After gaining a clear and wide scope of the current issue users face and the type of users the feature would be most applicable to, we began development of low-fidelity UI sketches. Creating these mock-ups were significant to the forthcoming decisions that would make up our high-fidelity UI design. These UI sketches allowed us to observe our target users using our potential feature, and gain insight from users about ways to adapt the UI for ease of use.
Toggle Variation
In this prototype, users indicate that they have surplus cargo by toggling on the option in the ride selection step. When toggling on, a question appears below in the same screen asking how much cargo they have with 3 options (‘a few items’ to ‘more than a trunk-load.’).
Uber Cargo Variation
For this prototype, we decided to explore the option of UberCargo, which would specifically be for users who are looking to transport cargo. This option ensures the rider a ride that will be able to fit the cargo, and allows the driver to be aware of a rider’s cargo prior to accepting the ride.
User Testing.
Using both our prototypes, we conducted user testing with individuals who were regular users of Uber and individuals who were unfamiliar with Uber. Gathering the input from these non-Uber users would allow us a new perspective of how Uber could draw new users through this new feature.
We asked our testers to imagine they are an individual who has a large 3x5 box and two 3x2 bags. In this situation, you do not have access to a personal vehicle (ie. their car is currently getting fixed, they don’t own a vehicle, they don’t have an individual to assist you in transporting these items, or the destination is a place where you don’t want to take your vehicle). The following tasks were written on a paper and administered to participants. Users were able to click ….
(1) Enter your current location and destination.
(2) Select the vehicle suitable for the given context and complete relevant prompts.
(3) Confirm ride.
What We Learned from User Testing.
Instead of having an UberCargo option, which was aimed to be a specific car choice for passengers with cargo, we decided, for our final design, to use a toggle that allows riders to indicate whether they have cargo with them. During our user testing, participants expressed the desire for the ease of use that the toggle provides and the natural intuitiveness the feature allowed. Users indicated that the Uber Cargo car choice would add another option to the already crowded rideshare selection screen. The toggle was a favorite because it was in the pick up settings screen and allowed for easy selection.
The toggle option eliminates the need to add another type of Uber service and instead helps riders clarify what they are carrying with them to drivers. However, through conducting low fidelity prototypes, we were able to observe that the number of actions needed to achieve the task of confirming a ride were high and the time it took users was more than double the current time of confirming a ride, so in our high fidelity mockup, we wanted to limit the number of screens and tasks for users. In addition, with the Uber Cargo variation, despite the extra steps of typing in the items the user had with them and taking pictures of the items, users felt that it was just enough steps that was easily doable and would get their situation across to drivers. Therefore, our final mockup attempts to combine components from both prototypes, while also compressing the number of cognitive tasks for users.
Final Mockup.
Reflection.
The idea to develop this feature stemmed from my interest in bringing to life a potential feature of Uber that could assist users, myself included, in the ever present problem of accommodating cargo for Uber riders while maintaining the satisfaction of drivers. Pursuing the development of Uber Cargo allowed me the opportunity to utilize and practice design thinking, while also learning new skills to create mock-ups and new techniques to develop feasible ideas to make this feature viable.
Interestingly, the cause of dissatisfaction for drivers when riders carried cargo was not rooted in the perception that the cargo could damage a driver’s personal vehicle, rather it was mainly caused by the unexpectedness of the cargo. This discovery that was made from our user research led us to gather that the overarching problem involved miscommunication between drivers and riders. As a team of three unique individuals, we discussed a problem statement that could clearly depict the issue we were determined to develop a solution for. After converging upon our problem, we began our ideation process. Being that we were a team of multiple individuals, our ideation process was rich with widely differing execution possibilities. A mutual goal of our team was to create a viable execution of a feature that accommodates a rider’s cargo that is grounded in research. This agreement established a check that each design decision would be meaningful to our target users. Understanding the different ideas that perspective can influence exposed me to unconventional ways to approach the problem, which is one the most fun aspects of the design process.
In my future endeavors in design, I am inspired to continue to share my perspective of developing solutions to overlooked troubles. To advance my skills in design, I am continuing to pursue new design projects and revise prior designs. Exposing myself to new experiences and learning new techniques is a valuable step I have learned that helps me improve as a designer.