Overlook your peaceable Uber experience — the ride-hailing service simply introduced it’s testing in-car tablets devoted to displaying advertisements throughout your journey. The corporate’s, fortunately, not rolling out this system extensively but; it’s solely piloting it in San Francisco and Los Angeles to begin.
Up to now, Uber says it has partnered with over 40 manufacturers, together with NBCUniversal, Heineken, and United Artists Releasing for its new “Journey Advertisements.” It additionally created an promoting division to assist construct out this providing and plans on sticking extra advertisements within the Uber Eats app, in emails, on digital storefronts, and thru car-top advertisements — a type of digital billboard drivers can place on the roof of their autos.
Lyft launched an identical promoting arm in August and has already began displaying advertisements on in-car tablets in Los Angeles-based autos. The tablets don’t simply show advertisements, although, as Lyft explains riders can “monitor progress alongside their route, fee and tip drivers, and management the music of their experience via our partnership with iHeartRadio.” (Hopefully, Uber will do the identical, as this no less than makes the tablets extra helpful.) Lyft additionally says it’ll additionally add digital advert panels to its ebike stations, develop in-app advertisements, and use comparable car-top advertisements it calls “Lyft Halos.”
Uber remains to be struggling to develop into worthwhile and solely simply reported $382 million in optimistic money circulation for the primary time in August. Nevertheless, a brand new proposal from the Division of Labor may change the best way it does enterprise, doubtlessly making it more durable for companies, like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, to categorise sure staff as contractors. This might require these corporations to offer drivers new advantages and protections, comparable to minimal wage and extra time.