The Uber experience will continue to become more efficient and, in many ways, less personal. And it will be thanks to acquisitions like the one the ride-hailing behemoth announced Monday.
The New York Times reports Uber has welcomed Geometric Intelligence into its fold, bringing along its 15 employees as well as its dedication to creative solutions. The new arm will essentially become what will be known as AI Labs - a team dedicated to infusing artificial intelligence into the company's future innovative plans.
Obviously, a great deal of the work will go into making self-driving technology a more readily available reality.
But AI Labs will not stop at making Uber drivers magically disappear from the front seat. It will work diligently to make myriad aspects of the Uber experience enjoyable, efficient and safe.
Jeff Holden expounds on the importance of a technological push, via Uber Newsroom: "It manifests in myriad ways, from determining an optimal route to computing when your car or UberEATS order will arrive to matching riders for uberPOOL. It extends to teaching a self-driven machine to safely and autonomously navigate the world, whether a car on the roads or an aircraft through busy airspace or new types of robotic devices."
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Geometrics Intelligence is the brainchild of Gary Marcus and Zoubin Ghahramani. The New York Times explains what makes their endeavor such an intriguing one for the likes of Uber.
The report states: "Part of what drew Uber to Dr. Marcus's team is that his start-up is tackling artificial intelligence in a different way. Rather than taking just one approach like deep learning, Geometric Intelligence combines data scientists who use varying techniques to study artificial intelligence, including the Bayesian and 'evolutionary' methods."
The hope is AI Labs has a unique perspective on what is an ubiquitous problem throughout the industry: bringing artificial intelligence to the forefront of innovation.
And Dr. Marcus explains how important it is to get the next iteration of ride-hailing correct moving forward: "Every major company realizes how essential A.I. is to what they're doing. Because of the scale of data people are operating on, even the smallest gains in efficiency can turn out enormous changes at these companies, especially in terms of profit."
Uber continues to push toward a future devoid of human drivers, which would presumably increase profits and situate the company as a pioneer in the industry, keeping it well ahead of would-be ride-hailing usurpers.
To do that, it will spare no expense and consider every possibility. AI Labs may be that perfect acquisition for such an endeavor.
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