Oh cool, Uber has been listening in on my nightmares. The ridesharing app debuted a new feature on Wednesday called "Uber to person" and it's exactly what it sounds like. Rather than enter an address, simply pick a pick a person from your contacts and the app will take you right to them, where they will probably be very surprised and demand to know why you're following them.
Actually, it's not that bad. I mean, it's weird that Uber will have access to your contacts and also their locations, that's for sure. However, Mashable reports that the person you're traveling to has to accept the request for any of this to happen.
To begin, type the person's name into the "Where To?" box at the top of the app. At this point, Uber will send them a notification that requests their location. If they accept, you both will be able to follow the journey on your phones, and the location will expire after 30 minutes. Ignoring the fact that we're inching ever-closer to a dystopian future run by machines, it's kind of cool.
"With Uber, you are going from point a to b. The new Uber to Person feature recognizes that people aren't just going to point b, they are trying to get to each other," Yuhki Yamashita, Uber's product manager, told Mashable.
A blog post by the company elaborated on the feature, boasting that it helps riders "skip the back and forth" of nailing down a meeting location. It also makes spontaneous visits a lot more tempting, which is good news for friends, but bad news when it comes to that family relative who just loves to check up on you.
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