On-demand transportation firm Uber is using artificial intelligence to determine whether a ride is for business or pleasure.
The company is using the data for a new feature called ‘Profile Recommendations’ whereby the app will recommend switching to a correct profile for your journey.
Many people will have two Uber profile – one for personal use, and the other for business.
Ronnie Gurion, GM and Global Head of Uber for Business, says:
“Using machine learning, Uber can predict which profile and corresponding payment method an employee should be using, and make the appropriate recommendation.”
When quickly booking a ride, it can be easy to forget to switch. Accidentally booking a ride home from a night out using a business account set up with a workplace’s payment details is an unwanted conversation with an employer.
Uber believes its success rate for determining the correct profile is around 80 percent.
To help reduce the 20 percent it gets wrong, businesses can assign ‘trip reviewers’ who know whether an employee’s use is supposed to be personal.
Any questionable rides can be flagged by the reviewer and the employee can decide in the app if it was supposed to be a personal ride or not. The whole process is designed to be much quicker than starting email threads about the issue and similar bureaucratic processes.
