# How do customers know the car that stops is their Uber ride? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832 "2019-04-01T00:45:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/21 "2019-04-01T19:41:13Z")
> [@bump](#): > > ISTR that it tells you and the driver each other’s names as well. That too. But the external description is useful at places like airports where there are lots of Lyfts and Ubers. There are plenty swooping down even at my not very crowded BART stop. Car location doesn’t update often enough to be helpful in figuring out which car is which. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/22 "2019-04-01T23:12:01Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > My Uber drivers often greet me by name and destination: “Tom, going to Farmingdale?” That would be odd to know the destination, it does not tell us until we start the ride, which no driver with 3 firing brain cells does until the customer is onboard. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/23 "2019-04-01T23:17:05Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Lyft cars also have a lit-up doodad with the Lyft logo. random fact, its called a “lyft amp” [https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115012925587-Amp](https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115012925587-Amp) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/24 "2019-04-01T23:22:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Uber certainly does (at least, first names). I’ve not used Lyft, so I can’t comment on whether it does. > > The only time I’ve ever had an issue with IDing my Uber driver was when I had one who showed up in a different car, with a different license plate, than what the app told me to expect. She told me that her car was in the shop, and she was driving a rental in the meantime. The only way that is allowed is with an “rideshare approved” rental. They are far more expensive and are registered into the system so your uber car description/plate/etc match. Otherwise driving an unapproved/unregistered car is instant termination/deactivation for a driver if reported. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/25 "2019-04-02T02:02:04Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > That would be odd to know the destination, it does not tell us until we start the ride, which no driver with 3 firing brain cells does until the customer is onboard. Really? I enter the destination when I am requesting the ride. If it’s near the end of your workday, how do you know that the destination isn’t an hour away, and farther than you want to go? Do Uber drivers have to accept calls at random, without knowing the destination? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/26 "2019-04-02T02:05:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Do Uber drivers have to accept calls at random, without knowing the destination? In Australia they do not know the destination until they pick you up. Oh and yes name, car type, colour and rego number all come through the app down under. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/27 "2019-04-02T02:21:46Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > In Australia they do not know the destination until they pick you up. Interesting. I have the impression my drivers in Panama know my destination when they pick me up, but I could be wrong. Maybe it’s just because they know as soon as I get in the car. They do sometimes ask my name to confirm before I get in the car. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/28 "2019-04-02T04:07:50Z")
In the other Uber thread (Uber Tales) it’s explained how the driver can know - a different destination mode the driver uses. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/29 "2019-04-02T05:09:41Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > The only way that is allowed is with an “rideshare approved” rental. They are far more expensive and are registered into the system so your uber car description/plate/etc match. Otherwise driving an unapproved/unregistered car is instant termination/deactivation for a driver if reported. I’d thought that I’d read something along those lines. I don’t use Uber often (mostly when I’m on business trips), and I think that that was the second or third time I’d ever used it, so I wasn’t of a mood to rock the boat. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/30 "2019-04-02T16:00:23Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Really? I enter the destination when I am requesting the ride. If it’s near the end of your workday, how do you know that the destination isn’t an hour away, and farther than you want to go? Do Uber drivers have to accept calls at random, without knowing the destination? Yes, so the drivers can’t cherry pick sweet rides or decline sucky ones. > [@AHunter3](#): > > I suppose it could be less idiot-proof in a crowded location with lots and lots of vehicles; I usually have it come get me at our suburban home. It’s a chaotic mess at Ohare airport. There’s one ‘rideshare pickup zone’ so everyone is crammed into the same area, necks craned, trying to spot their ride. There are attendants that try to push everyone through. I hear it’s pretty bad when concerts and sporting events let out or closing time near bars and nightclubs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/31 "2019-04-02T16:28:15Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Yes, so the drivers can’t cherry pick sweet rides or decline sucky ones. Good to know. Maybe someone can explain something that has happened to me a few times. I’ll have accepted a ride, and the driver is heading my way. But after a few minutes, that driver may drop out, and some other driver now is shown for the ride. (One time this happened to me when I was heading to the airport early in the morning. The switch caused an apparent delay in getting picked up of 10-15 minutes, which could have been serious.) What was going on there? Did the first driver cancel for some reason? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/32 "2019-04-02T16:32:01Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I rely on Uber here in Panama in part due to safety concerns. There have been lots of incidents, including people I know personally, having been robbed by cabbies driving a yellow cab. (There are lots of other issues with yellow cabs here as well . . . Yes, I use Uber instead of cabs in Bogota whenever possible, for all the same reasons, (even though they’re technically illegal, and sometimes they take forever to arrive just because of traffic jams). By all accounts they are safer than cabs, even though cabs “are clearly marked.” > [@Colibri](#): > > In addition, the app shows you the location of your ride on a map and gives you its approximate time to arrival. Once the car is at your location, it will say “arrived.” I can often recognize my ride a block away. So if a car stops but the app says your driver is five minutes away you would know that’s not it. Ideally that’s the case, though sometimes in Bogota my signal isn’t the best, and the car arrives but the app is lagging behind, still indicating that it hasn’t arrived. However, with the license plate feature and the car description, it isn’t hard to be 100% sure you’re getting into the right car. The chances of getting into the wrong car _and_ of the car’s driver being a murderous person must be extremely low. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/33 "2019-04-02T16:35:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Do Uber drivers have to accept calls at random, without knowing the destination? Former Uber/Lyft driver, the answer is yes because you do not know the designation until you pick them up. But, you can at that point refuse to go there without a penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/34 "2019-04-02T16:36:49Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > random fact, its called a “lyft amp” > > [Amp - Lyft Help](https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115012925587-Amp) And it’s only available to drivers that have over 350 five star ride ratings. I got one my first month. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/35 "2019-04-02T16:38:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Good to know. > > Maybe someone can explain something that has happened to me a few times. I’ll have accepted a ride, and the driver is heading my way. But after a few minutes, that driver may drop out, and some other driver now is shown for the ride. (One time this happened to me when I was heading to the airport early in the morning. The switch caused an apparent delay in getting picked up of 10-15 minutes, which could have been serious.) What was going on there? Did the first driver cancel for some reason? He could have canceled or the Uber app could have seen there was a closer driver available for you and a closer passenger available for him. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/36 "2019-04-02T16:40:02Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Yes, so the drivers can’t cherry pick sweet rides or decline sucky ones. Is there any way to opt out of a ride that is too far away? For example, I saw a story this morning about a baseball player who got called up last night and hopped in an Uber for a ride from Scranton, PA to Yankee Stadium. It’s a fun story, but you could imagine a Scranton uber driver who might not want to make a three hour drive to the Bronx. Is he just stuck with it? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/37 "2019-04-02T16:42:03Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > random fact, its called a “lyft amp” > > [Amp - Lyft Help](https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115012925587-Amp) It can show several colors as well, which one being repeated on your app. I suspect it’s more to make it easier to pick your ride out if you’re waiting with a crowd outside the ballpark, for example, than security. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/38 "2019-04-02T16:42:20Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Yes, so the drivers can’t cherry pick sweet rides or decline sucky ones. > [@needscoffee](#): > > In the other Uber thread (Uber Tales) it’s explained how the driver can know - a different destination mode the driver uses. I admit I haven’t looked at that thread, but could you clarify: Is this an officially approved way that the drivers know the destination in advance, and can they know the destination before they accept the ride? (Or before they pick up?) When I was driving a taxi in L.A., this was (and I’m sure it still is), a fundamental principle L.A. Department of Transportation regulations. Drivers were never to know the destination of the rides offered on the dispatch, and drivers can never refuse to take a passenger after learning of the destination–precisely to prevent the cherry picking which **jnglmassiv** mentions. I have the same question as **Colibri** about Uber drivers accepting an order and then bailing out at the last minute. Could it be that they have discovered the destination and don’t want the ride? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/39 "2019-04-02T16:43:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Horrible tragedy this weekend.Samantha Josephson got into the wrong car on a rainy night. > [Samantha Josephson got into a car she thought was her Uber, she ended up dead in a rural field, police say - CNN](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/03/30/us/south-carolina-missing-college-student/index.html) > > How does someone know a car is their Uber ride? Cabs are very clearly marked I have had issues with picking up kids after school. Generally there are five or six Ubers/Lyfts there picking them up and the kids don’t know which one is theirs sometimes, so they just walk up and ask. Very scary, I am surprised that some pervert hasn’t put a rideshare sticker on his car and just showed up a school. And yes, I know that you are not supposed to pick up minors, but Uber/Lyft turn a blind eye to it and I wouldn’t know it was a minor until I got there. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832/40 "2019-04-02T16:45:27Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I admit I haven’t looked at that thread, but could you clarify: Is this an officially approved way that the drivers know the destination in advance, and can they know the destination before they accept the ride? > > When I was driving a taxi in L.A., this was (and I’m sure it still is), a fundamental principle L.A. Department of Transportation regulations. Drivers were never to know the destination of the rides offered on the dispatch, and drivers can never refuse to take a passenger after learning of the destination–precisely to prevent the cherry picking which **jnglmassiv** mentions. > > I have the same question as **Colibri** about Uber drivers accepting an order and then bailing out at the last minute. Could it be that they have discovered the destination and don’t want the ride? There is no legitimate way for the driver to know the designation before the pickup. But, the driver can call the person and ask where they are going. I’ve have passengers tell about this, they said the driver apologized and said they would refer them to another driver. When in fact is they just cancel the ride and the company automatically sends out another car. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-customers-know-the-car-that-stops-is-their-uber-ride/831832.md?page=3)