Uber"s food delivery app Uber Eats has added a new feature to deliver orders when you"re at a location that is hard to find, for instance, a public park, office campus, or a large apartment complex. It will share your live location with the courier when you place a "meet outside" or "meet at door" order in the app.
The app tries to maintain user privacy and safety by putting some measures in place. It will only share your live location for a limited time if you"re within 100m of the dropoff location and when the courier is about three minutes away. Uber said that live location will turn off automatically once the order is delivered, adding that you always have the option to disable location sharing manually.
Live Location is a popular feature that shares your device"s GPS coordinates in real-time. It has many use cases, such as family apps and Google Maps, where you can share location with your friends while traveling. The feature is also available in instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Uber"s own ride-hailing app, where it"s used to update the driver"s location when you book a ride.
While explaining its motivation behind the feature, Uber stated:
As the weather warms up and the sun shines a little longer, we know that people are spending more time outdoors with family and friends, especially at places like parks and playgrounds.
However, these locations can often pose challenges for couriers looking to quickly navigate and deliver food to consumers who’ve selected “meet at door” or “meet outside” deliveries. To help make drop offs more seamless, our team has worked hard to launch Live Location Sharing for couriers and consumers.
The feature is available in all markets worldwide (except Quebec), where the Uber-owned food delivery service is available.