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Uber is beginning to track the locations of riders up to five minutes after a ride has ended:
As promised, Uber is now tracking you even when your ride is over. The ride-hailing service said the surveillance—even when riders close the app—will improve its service.
The company now tracks customers from when they request a ride until five minutes after the ride has ended. According to Uber, the move will help drivers locate riders without having to call them, and it will also allow Uber to analyze whether people are being dropped off and picked up properly—like on the correct side of the street.
"We do this to improve pickups, drop-offs, customer service, and to enhance safety," Uber said.
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Uber Now Tracking Users After the Ride is Over
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You're currently going through a difficult transition period called "Life."
(Score: 2) by jcross on Monday December 05 2016, @05:00PM
That's true, but if they track both the driver and passenger for some time around the drop-off, it can be inferred. For instance, they can assume (in a drive-on-the-right-side country) that if the driver is coming from the south, they are likely letting the passenger out on the east side of the street. If the driver makes a U-turn with the passenger still in the car, we can assume the passenger is being let off on the west side of the street, but if the driver makes a U-turn without the passenger coming along, the driver is probably just changing direction to get to their next location. One can also look at whether the passenger starts going west or east and how long it takes them (i.e. did they need to wait to cross the street). The data are probably still ambiguous, but might be informative in the aggregate.
Not that I disagree with your point that it's a lame excuse to justify collecting the data. Much more likely they want to know *why* people are taking that Uber ride in the first place, based on their actual destination rather than the address they entered into the app.