Johannesburg will be the second South African city to have Uber mapping vehicles deployed in it, as the app-based taxi service works to improve its mapping technology.
Cameras affixed to some Uber cars will take a stream of photographs to help the company improve drop-off and pick-up locations, estimated time of arrivals, and establish faster routes.
The fixtures look similar to the Google cars which drive around capturing imagery to be used in the Google Street View product.
Uber started putting mapping cars on the road in Mexico, Canada and the UK in 2016, and in Cape Town in November.
The data collected by the vehicles will help Uber understand traffic patterns and provide additional details to future drivers where there aren't detailed maps ? or street signs. It will also help Uber figure out all the different and most convenient entrances and exits at places like shopping malls and airports.
The cameras will only capture a series of photos, not video, and photos of riders at the exact point of pick-up and drop-off will not be retained. All data is anonymised to protect rider and driver privacy.
Riders will be informed their ride has the mapping device on it, and then have the option of cancelling the trip should they not want to partake.
The vehicles used for the data capturing are owned by drivers who already make use of the Uber platform. Uber says driver-partners will be asked to participate and the company will go with the vehicles that were best suited to accommodate the mapping device.
In an interview with ITWeb when the vehicles hit Cape Town streets, Uber's head of product for maps, Manik Gupta, said the Uber vehicle cameras will be used to capture the next level of data needed in the mapping space.
He pointed out Uber would not exist if comprehensive interactive digital maps had not been created first.
More information can be found on the UberMapping Web site.
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