Building Moving Experiences with Uber
Interview with Alexander Graebe from UBER
The Uber Developer Platform has been getting creative and busy this year making app integration ubiquitous, launching the driver API and diversifying into delivering things other than riders. Alexander Graebe leads the Developer Platform Operations team at Uber facilitating the evolution of Uber’s open Developer Platform for moving things and people.
So, how does he expect people to integrate transport in their apps?
“We expect people to integrate transportation services into their solutions in the most seamless, desirable and easiest ways possible. To help developers achieve this goal, we provide a variety of products.
The simplest integration can be accomplished through Deeplinks into the Uber app. More advanced integrations use our SDKs to integrate our Ride Request Widget. If you want the most seamless and context-rich integration, you can use our REST APIs and webhooks right away.”
Continuously seeing progress with new features carefully rolled out, testing in new markets and original integrations by 3rd party apps — how has Uber developed since he began working there?
“I joined Uber almost 6 months ago and it’s been an incredible journey so far. With each step forward, we demonstrate our customer obsession. All of the features we worked on fulfilled important developers’ needs. For instance, we launched Trip Experiences to make it easy for developers to offer context-rich integrations. With that, IoT solutions can react to a rider’s trip status and, for instance, turn off the lights at home when the rider leaves. This unlocks a huge opportunity!”
Personally Alex, what do you find most exciting about the IoT today?
“Personally, I get extremely excited to see how IoT solutions combine bits and atoms to improve efficiency. We see how IoT devices get smarter by becoming more context-aware. I see how consumer-oriented IoT devices are becoming fashionable accessories with capabilities to help us being more connected and to fulfill immediate needs. It makes our life easier. That excites me a lot!”
What advice would you give to developers using your platform?
“Context. Is. Everything. IoT solutions unlock unique context insights we never had before. With our products, we provide another contextual dimension. Developers can increase engagement by offering the right content (and actions) at the right moment.”
Are you excited about speaking at IoT With The Best?
“Of course! I’m #superpumped”
We’re super pumped too Alex!
Alex will show developers the array of tools available on the public Uber Open platform to integrate their API and build moving experiences at our upcoming IOT With The Best, Online Developer Conference 29th–30th October.
