Uber's Driver-Side Surge Pricing: Background, Motivation, and Execution

Date: 

Friday, June 3, 2022, 1:00pm to 2:30pm

Location: 

SEC 1.413 & on Zoom here: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/97692964231?pwd=K05BMEhDNTZtbUhHYkZ5S21qZ2FKQT09#success

Calvin Li, formerly at Uber and the main architect behind their current surge pricing strategies. It will occur at the usual place and the usual time: this Friday, 6/3, at 1 pm ET, in SEC 1.413 and streamed on zoom here

Abstract: For the first 9 years of Uber’s life, Uber’s only dynamic strategy for high demand periods was to use symmetric multiplicative surge pricing. In 2018, Uber wanted to explore what else can be done for surge pricing. Calvin was the main architect for additive driver side surge pricing that has been rolled out around the world, becoming Uber’s preferred dynamic pricing strategy for drivers. Calvin will talk about Uber’s theoretical & technical details of dynamic pricing strategy, the ideas behind the additive driver side surge pricing, and the software engineering efforts required to pull this off from zero to a full city launch in just over 4 months.