Earlier this week Uber made an announcement about their future roadmap of offerings and the one getting the most attention is the ability to book a shuttle with friends to attend a concert or some other live event. The announcement that should be getting the most attention was mostly ignored.
Uber Caregiver is a new feature of the app that will allow caregivers to create a secondary account where they can organize rides on behalf of someone else, and eventually use this service to organize grocery delivery and medicine pickups as well. This could transform the lives of many caregivers and the people who rely on them.
What if you could book the same driver every week and pay extra for them to spend an extra 15 minutes unloading groceries and talking to someone? Or only allow drivers who have the highest ratings for empathy and customer service to be Uber Caregiver drivers?
All of these could foster more human connections, create a premium service model for Uber drivers and lessen the considerable load on caregivers who struggle to find time to do everything. In every way, this would have a much bigger impact on our culture than being able to book a party bus with your friends. We just need to give it more attention so that Uber sees the opportunity as well.
