Yahoo News Uber's first gadget, Beacon, helps you find the right ride
Finding the right Uber car might not be very hard at an empty parking lot, but when you're coming out of a nightclub or a sports event, there might be dozens of similar cars (most of them invariably Toyotas) waiting to pick someone up.
Enter Beacon, Uber's first hardware product.
It's a simple gadget Uber drivers can stick to their windshield; it looks exactly like Uber's (new) logo, and it glows in different colors that match whichever hue the customer has chosen.
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Beacon is by no means necessary; Uber already lets customers see the driver's car make and license plate in the app. But noticing a Beacon with a matching color could be easier from afar, especially for those with less-than-perfect eyesight.
From the customer side, working with Beacon is simple. When you request your ride, you can now tap on the Uber logo in the lower right corner of the screen and set a color.
Image: Uber
On the other end, Beacon connects to the driver's phone via Bluetooth and has a battery that lasts "several evenings" before you need a recharge, Uber says. Besides simply glowing green or yellow, it can do more advanced color effects, such as glowing in all the colors of the rainbow for Pride or pulsating green for St. Patrick's Day.
There's one set of users who will likely find Beacon very familiar: Lyft users. Uber's competitor launched a similar device called Amp in November.
Uber Beacon will roll out Dec. 16 in select cities, including Miami, Denver and Nashville in the U.S. and Newcastle in the UK. Drivers who want a Beacon will be able to pick it up at Uber's community events in the coming days.
The company says it will be expanding Beacon to more cities around the world in 2017.
