Google Maps Ridesharing

Adding ridesharing to the worlds most popular travel app

We expanded the travel modes in Google Maps by adding ridesharing and other sharing options.

Google Play · Blog post

One app for your Uber rides

While we had a few ridesharing options in Google Maps already, the first task was to design an end-to-end experience that allowed people to book and complete an Uber ride all within Google Maps itself. Most of the challenges became around educating users about the feature as well as making it easy for people to sign up or connect their Uber account to Google Maps. We continued to build various features like support for more vehicle types, phone number signup, and preferred pickup places.

This feature feature was ultimately later shut down.

Support more ride options in Google Maps

The other objective of the project was to introduce more partners to the Google Maps ridesharing platform. My role was to design and support 17+ ridesharing providers from all over the world. The complexity was mainly around supporting different languages, currencies, promotion codes, and vehicle types. Instead of handling the ride within the app we would transfer them over to the appropriate app store or to the app if they had it installed.

We've since worked on adding bikesharing providers like Lime.