The math that ensures you always get a Citi Bike when you want it
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Lyftâs secret plan to take control of its maps â and its future
Jason Tanz - May 25, 2023
Every day, millions of drivers and riders use Lyftâs app. Most of the time, theyâre staring at a map â to see how long their ride will take, or to see how far away their driver is, or to get directions to their destination. And yet, until very recently, Lyft had limited control over that navigation experience, which was built using Google Maps.
âFor our entire existence, we couldnât fundamentally change that product,â says director of project management Ben Schrom. âAs a product team, itâs a pretty weird experience to not own 80% of the pixels that your users interact with.â
This was more than just an annoyance. Over the years, Lyft had collected a list of hundreds of features that might improve the rider or driver experience, but it was powerless to implement them. Whatâs more, relying on third-party technology was creating an expensive disconnect. Lyft used its own algorithms to predict the time and cost of a ride â informing the price and ETA that a passenger sees when they order it, or that the driver sees when they accept it. But once the ride was accepted, Google took over the navigation, and sometimes its routes differed from the ones that Lyft had calculated, resulting in more expensive rides that Lyft would have to pay for. (For instance, Google always presents drivers with the fastest route, regardless of tolls. But sometimes, paying a toll would shave only a minute or two off the ride, while adding significantly to the cost.)
In 2019, a group of Lyft engineers determined that if the company suggested navigation routes, it could result in significant savings. And that wasnât including the money it would save by not paying Google, or the potential upside from creating a safer rideshare experience. Altogether, home-grown maps could save Lyft a potentially massive amount when multiplied by the millions of rides that take place across the platform every day.
For most of Lyftâs history, there wasnât much to be done about it. Google and Apple had spent billions of dollars and many years building their maps. It would have been prohibitively expensive for a relatively small company like Lyft to duplicate that effort. But a few years ago, Lyft found a way forward, launching a scrappy effort to build its own maps. Last year, it began rolling them out across the country. Today, they power 70% of all rides on the Lyft platform.
The breakthrough
The breakthrough came in 2019 when the team determined that the OpenStreetMap (OSM) platform was finally robust enough to undergird Lyftâs maps. Created in 2004 by a British academic, OSM is a free, open-source alternative to Google and Apple Maps â a sort of Wikipedia for maps, with volunteers contributing geographic information into a centralized database, which can then be accessed by anyone for free. OSM was mostly the domain of academics and hobbyists until 2012 when Google announced it would start charging more businesses for using Google Maps. Since then, companies from Amazon to Meta to Snapchat have built mapping products on OSM â and, in turn, contributed massive amounts of information to the underlying database.
âThe only reason this worked was because OSMâs maps finally became high enough quality,â Lyftâs chief product officer Dylan Lorimer says. âIt was the perfect point in time.â
And Lyft had another valuable resource at its disposal: data from Lyft rides, which traverse the most highly trafficked streets multiple times every day. (According to Lorimer, between 70% and 80% of U.S. road segments host a Lyft ride at least once every ten days.) It launched a pilot in which a small subset of rides using car-mounted cameras collects the data so the company could update its maps with road closures, construction, or other obstacles.
Doing the impossible
By late 2019, Lorimer and Justin Moore, then the head of engineering, were ready to form a team to âdo the impossibleâ â create a home-grown mapping system. A group of 250 â including the companyâs first cartographers and a new mapping experiences team â got to work making the experience of the app smoother for drivers and passengers. âGoogle and Apple do a bunch of things really well,â says product manager Kieran Gupta. âBut thereâs a whole bunch of things they donât do at all and that they are never going to do, and a subset of those are critical to drivers and riders on the Lyft platform.â For example, Google could navigate drivers to a destination but couldnât tell them the most convenient place to drop off a rider or warn them about loading zones or bus stops or other complications. Ironically enough, the Google Maps developer tools didnât work well with Android Auto or Appleâs CarPlay, which let drivers navigate via their carâs touchscreens rather than on their phones.
Lyft Maps reimagined the visual map, removing the distracting clutter of irrelevant stores, restaurants, and nearby destinations so that drivers could focus on the navigation and picking up passengers. They added a photo of the pickup area for drivers awaiting passengers, so they can better navigate unfamiliar streetscapes. They incorporated real-world updates, for example, alerting riders awaiting pickup if their driver is stuck in traffic. And, yes, they added CarPlay and Android Auto functionality.
So far, drivers seem to like it. Ninety-eight percent of drivers who try Lyftâs maps stick with them â rather than switching to Google, Apple, Waze, or any other app. âWe never forced drivers to use our navigation,â Lorimer says. âWe gave them a choice, and then we consistently sought their feedback to make it better and better to the point where they prefer it over the alternative.â
Now that the team has built a successful mapping product, they are starting to think about what other rideshare-specific features could set it apart â ââand improve the driving and riding experience. Some ideas theyâve been pursuing include a feature that lets drivers share information about accidents, traffic jams, passenger loading zones, and other rideshare frustrations; an option for riders to select a âscenic route,â rather than the most efficient; and pickup and drop-off guides to heavily trafficked destinations, so drivers and riders can get in and out of the airport (or stadium or park) more easily.
âThere are so many micro-optimizations to improve these experiences that happen one million times a day,â says Gupta. âThey may not seem like a big deal, but they could make the difference between a rider saying, âThat was really stressful, and Iâm going to give my driver a bad ratingâ and âThat was easy, and Iâll do it again.âââ
Related articles
Bikeshare The math that ensures you always get a Citi Bike when you want it Tom Vanderbilt - Jan 10, 2023
Data What do you use rideshare for? It depends on your bank account Carl Franzen - Mar 9, 2023
Rideshare Meet Your Driver: Aaron Alvarez Aaron Alvarez - May 19, 2023
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Lyft Logo DRIVER RIDER business LOG IN SIGN UP. Lyftâs guide to the transportation revolution. Rideshare. Lyftâs secret plan to take control of its maps â and its future. Jason Tanz - May 25, 2023. Every day, millions of drivers and riders use Lyftâs app. Most of the time, theyâre staring at a map â to see how long their ride will take, or to see how far away their driver is, or to get directions to their destination. And yet, until very recently, Lyft had limited control over that navigation experience, which was built using Google Maps. âFor our entire existence, we couldnât fundamentally change that product,â says director of project management Ben Schrom. âAs a product team, itâs a pretty weird experience to not own 80% of the pixels that your users interact with.â This was more than just an annoyance. Over the years, Lyft had collected a list of hundreds of features that might improve the rider or driver experience, but it was powerless to implement them. Whatâs more, relying on third-party technology was creating an expensive disconnect. Lyft used its own algorithms to predict the time and cost of a ride â informing the price and ETA that a passenger sees when they order it, or that the driver sees when they accept it. But once the ride was accepted, Google took over the navigation, and sometimes its routes differed from the ones that Lyft had calculated, resulting in more expensive rides that Lyft would have to pay for. (For instance, Google always presents drivers with the fastest route, regardless of tolls. But sometimes, paying a toll would shave only a minute or two off the ride, while adding significantly to the cost.) In 2019, a group of Lyft engineers determined that if the company suggested navigation routes, it could result in significant savings. And that wasnât including the money it would save by not paying Google, or the potential upside from creating a safer rideshare experience. Altogether, home-grown maps could save Lyft a potentially massive amount when multiplied by the millions of rides that take place across the platform every day. For most of Lyftâs history, there wasnât much to be done about it. Google and Apple had spent billions of dollars and many years building their maps. It would have been prohibitively expensive for a relatively small company like Lyft to duplicate that effort. But a few years ago, Lyft found a way forward, launching a scrappy effort to build its own maps. Last year, it began rolling them out across the country. Today, they power 70% of all rides on the Lyft platform. The breakthrough. The breakthrough came in 2019 when the team determined that the OpenStreetMap (OSM) platform was finally robust enough to undergird Lyftâs maps. Created in 2004 by a British academic, OSM is a free, open-source alternative to Google and Apple Maps â a sort of Wikipedia for maps, with volunteers contributing geographic information into a centralized database, which can then be accessed by anyone for free. OSM was mostly the domain of academics and hobbyists until 2012 when Google announced it would start charging more businesses for using Google Maps. Since then, companies from Amazon to Meta to Snapchat have built mapping products on OSM â and, in turn, contributed massive amounts of information to the underlying database. âThe only reason this worked was because OSMâs maps finally became high enough quality,â Lyftâs chief product officer Dylan Lorimer says. âIt was the perfect point in time.â And Lyft had another valuable resource at its disposal: data from Lyft rides, which traverse the most highly trafficked streets multiple times every day. (According to Lorimer, between 70% and 80% of U.S. road segments host a Lyft ride at least once every ten days.) It launched a pilot in which a small subset of rides using car-mounted cameras collects the data so the company could update its maps with road closures, construction, or other obstacles. Doing the impossible. By late 2019, Lorimer and Justin Moore, then the head of engineering, were ready to form a team to âdo the impossibleâ â create a home-grown mapping system. A group of 250 â including the companyâs first cartographers and a new mapping experiences team â got to work making the experience of the app smoother for drivers and passengers. âGoogle and Apple do a bunch of things really well,â says product manager Kieran Gupta. âBut thereâs a whole bunch of things they donât do at all and that they are never going to do, and a subset of those are critical to drivers and riders on the Lyft platform.â For example, Google could navigate drivers to a destination but couldnât tell them the most convenient place to drop off a rider or warn them about loading zones or bus stops or other complications. Ironically enough, the Google Maps developer tools didnât work well with Android Auto or Appleâs CarPlay, which let drivers navigate via their carâs touchscreens rather than on their phones. Lyft Maps reimagined the visual map, removing the distracting clutter of irrelevant stores, restaurants, and nearby destinations so that drivers could focus on the navigation and picking up passengers. They added a photo of the pickup area for drivers awaiting passengers, so they can better navigate unfamiliar streetscapes. They incorporated real-world updates, for example, alerting riders awaiting pickup if their driver is stuck in traffic. And, yes, they added CarPlay and Android Auto functionality. So far, drivers seem to like it. Ninety-eight percent of drivers who try Lyftâs maps stick with them â rather than switching to Google, Apple, Waze, or any other app. âWe never forced drivers to use our navigation,â Lorimer says. âWe gave them a choice, and then we consistently sought their feedback to make it better and better to the point where they prefer it over the alternative.â Now that the team has built a successful mapping product, they are starting to think about what other rideshare-specific features could set it apart â ââand improve the driving and riding experience. Some ideas theyâve been pursuing include a feature that lets drivers share information about accidents, traffic jams, passenger loading zones, and other rideshare frustrations; an option for riders to select a âscenic route,â rather than the most efficient; and pickup and drop-off guides to heavily trafficked destinations, so drivers and riders can get in and out of the airport (or stadium or park) more easily. âThere are so many micro-optimizations to improve these experiences that happen one million times a day,â says Gupta. âThey may not seem like a big deal, but they could make the difference between a rider saying, âThat was really stressful, and Iâm going to give my driver a bad ratingâ and âThat was easy, and Iâll do it again.âââ Related articles. Bikeshare The math that ensures you always get a Citi Bike when you want it Tom Vanderbilt - Jan 10, 2023. Data What do you use rideshare for? It depends on your bank account Carl Franzen - Mar 9, 2023. Rideshare Meet Your Driver: Aaron Alvarez Aaron Alvarez - May 19, 2023. DRIVER. DRIVER. Become a Driver. Earnings. Cities. Help. Safety. Application Requirements. Express Drive. Bonus. Lyft Rewards. Driving Opportunities. Go Electric. Insurance. Driver Blog. RIDER. RIDER. Sign up to ride. Fare Estimate. Lyft Pink. Cities. Help. Safety. Business Profile. Rewards. Events. Airports. Gift Cards. Donate. Blog. LYFT. LYFT. Careers. Lyft Up. Business. Healthcare. Bikes. Scooters. Self-Driving. Lyft Media. Developers. Rev. Press. Investor Relations. Lyft driver app. Lyft rider app. Ride on web. Terms. Privacy. Accessibility Statement. Your Privacy Choices. © 2023 Lyft, Inc. CPUC ID No. TCP0032513-P.