UberPOOL will now suggest better drop-offs to save everyone time

Uber’s adding a new feature to UberPOOL that will hopefully help expedite trips, for both drivers and passengers. UberPOOL riders will now get pop-up drop-off spot suggestions in the app while en route, letting them know when it might be easier to just jump out of the car and walk instead of sitting in traffic.

The alternate drop-off points will be algorithmically generated based on data about your route and real-time traffic info, and the notification will also show you approximately how much time you’ll save by taking the suggestion instead of maintaining the current course.

If you’re good with what Uber offers up, a rider can tap the little blue box pop-up showing you time saved on the map, and it’ll send the updated route information to the POOL driver. Uber’s emphasizing the Good Citizen aspect of this behavior, in that taking part will help your fellow riders save time.

Sartre said “Hell is other people,” and that can be especially true when you’re rolling the dice on sharing a ride driven by a stranger with a bunch of other strangers. Features like this that alleviate some of the compromises involved in shared rides should help, though with the added friction, I’d be curious to see how often riders actually make use of the feature.