Uber Hotbox Option 😶‍🌫️

Good morning and happy Monday.

Last time I needed to get home from the airport I opened the Lyft app. There was a surge in demand and no one was accepting my request. As I waited I browsed the ride options, which have become quite extensive over the years.

You can now set a desired temperature of the vehicle as well as how chatty/not chatty the driver is for an additional fee. I’m trying to imagine a situation where I want a chatty driver, but that’s an entirely different issue.

Here’s what the real UI looks like in Lyft.

I forgot about this until recently.

Then @emmalsalinas on Twitter sent me a list of potential design ideas including one that was 3 simple words: Uber hotbox option.

After having a good chuckle I mocked this up. The hardest part was creating a mask of the car to get the green cloud to look like it is behind the car. Unfortunately, I didn’t take the time to make an Uber-style illustration.

Back to the idea. Even if we set aside the regulatory constraints for a second, it’s bonkers.

For me this was more of a thought exercise to push how far you can go with controlling an experience ultimately defined by how people interact with each other (and how one of them drives).

I could see a fun permutation of this where there are seasonal options (romantic for Valentine’s day, green for St Patrick’s day, etc.). You could even consider what a passenger DJ experience might look like if there was a Spotify integration. The potential versions of this are endless, and there might be ways for drivers that want to “brand” their ride make more money.

If you enjoyed this, click the subscribe button and get emails like this every morning.

If you’re a returning reader, please share this newsletter with a friend or colleague. The support helps me out a lot. These newsletters don’t write themselves.