Uber gives public access to its transport data in latest peace offering to London

Uber is launching its new planning tool “Uber Movement” in London.

The software will give public access to data generated by drivers movements in certain cities that it operates in. Whilst the data is anonymous it is thought that city planners could compare traffic conditions past and present. 

It is widely believed that this move is the latest peace offering to regulators Transport for London as the ride hailing company tries to overturn its rejected licence decision back in September 2017. 

Uber Movement was formally launched today at an event co-hosted with London First where experts and policymakers were able to see the tool first hand and go through some real life examples of how it works. 

Every week large numbers of customers use the Uber app to get around their city. With the millions of GPS-tracked trips comes generated data about how the city moves at different times of the day, week and year. Fred Jones, Head of UK Cities at Uber, said: “Under Uber’s new leadership we want to be a better partner to city planners and regulators, so we hope this data will help give them valuable insights for the future. This is only the first step for Movement in the UK. Over the next few months we plan to launch it in other cities including Manchester and Birmingham. And we’ll keep developing the tool so it’s as useful as possible for city planners. Uber Movement was formally launched today at an event co-hosted with London First where experts and policymakers were able to see the tool first hand and go through some real life examples of how it works.” David Leam, London First’s Head of Infrastructure Policy, said: “Uber Movement is an exciting new tool that will help cities like London better understand congestion and develop new solutions to tackle it. London businesses will welcome this initiative as a sign that Uber is committed to working in closer collaboration with city and transport planners to keep London moving.”