This sidebar betrays Uber’s priorities
A simple change in user interface can mean the difference between life and death
I recently saw the below post over on LinkedIn:
“…In light of the recent tragedy of Samantha Josephson getting into a car thinking it was an Uber [and getting kidnapped and murdered], I felt compelled to share this. Please share with your network as Uber is a service I use often.
- Always check the license plate and make and model of car.
- Always check the driver’s picture.
- Open the back door and ask “who are you here to pick up?” So many of us ask “are you here to pick up ‘insert name’”? NEVER give your name! Make them tell you!
- Make sure to verify that the driver does not have the child locks on. Yes, it is ok to ask. You need to be able to get out in an emergency.
- Lastly, always share your ride info with a loved one! College kids should share with their roommates as well! I am attaching photos to show how easy [it is] to set this up on you and your kids’ phones.
This how-to post got me thinking about how user flows convey corporate values. User experience designers like me are never to blame the users for errors, but to always blame the tools. That a young woman using Uber boarded the wrong vehicle and died tells you that she did her best with what the tool could tell her, and the tool failed her. That Uber’s user protections need a multi-part ‘How to guide’ to explain them points to how Uber failed.
How was it that something as basic to ride-sharing as “make sure you’re taking the right vehicle” was absent from Uber’s user experience?
Your Products Convey Your Values
The Uber sidebar at a glance tells you what Uber prioritizes: profit. The top of the sidebar has its Food Delivery and Make Money Driving flows. It then lists things that you can buy, or help Uber’s user base grow, such as Gifts and Free Ride flows.
Uber nests the Trusted Contacts flow under Settings. That’s out of sight of the average user experience. It is a massive indictment of Uber’s design priorities.
Designers should always expect the worst possible situations. Then they should design their apps accordingly.
To that end, it makes sense for design teams to run Red Team-Blue Team tests on new product initiatives. One part of the design team creates worst case user scenarios. The design team’s opposing part then brainstorms counters to those worst case scenarios. Expecting problems before they occur can beget new product ideas and market differentiation.
This, in turn, shows why it’s critical that design teams be as diverse as possible. You cannot design for problems that lie outside your team’s lived experiences. On the one hand, empathy and imagination do have their part to play in the design process. On the other hand, for all their merits they can only go so far. For instance, as a gay white man, I could be able to imagine a woman feeling unsafe as she rides alone in an Uber. Yet that empathy is only an approximation of her direct experience.
Had Uber embraced diversity in its design process, rider safety may have received feature priority. Instead, you can get food delivered right to your door at the push of a button.
Sure, getting food delivery is great, but has Uber heard about keeping its customers alive?
Your Responses Conveys Your Values, Too
Lyft is not exempt from criticism either.
Lyft is famous for its ethical stances. They pledged $1 million dollars to the ACLU after Trump announced his Muslim Ban. Lyft partnered with Voto Latino to help people vote after Dodge City, KS moved polling stations beyond city limits. They even issued a statement after Samantha Josephson’s death, which happened on Uber’s watch:
Lyft, ostensibly, hopes to be the Patagonia to Uber’s Trump Administration.
Enter Anna Gillcrist:
Anna details on Twitter how a Lyft driver made unwanted advances towards her at 2AM. It could have escalated into sexual assault, or worse, were it not for Anna’s quick thinking. Lyft’s response, as of April 9, 2019, was this:
Anna’s scary situation is something ride sharing apps should prevent beforehand. This mirrors my earlier point about diversity’s importance when building your teams.
I’m here thinking: Why isn’t there a mandatory reporter policy at Lyft for instances of unwanted advances? Why can’t riders request female drivers? Lyft could even offer a separate Lyft-For-Her app. Consider Safr, which caters to female and genderqueer ride sharing. Lyft-For-Her could adjust its user journeys and features. It could do so while bringing in revenue for Lyft's product family.
Both of these measures, as well as hiring more diverse teams, could empower Lyft's female riders. To do so, presses its ethical advantage over Uber. Uber, given its past, will remain incorrigible.
