Uber has launched a new website where it promises to release anonymous data from more than 2 billion trips worldwide to help urban planners better understand traffic patterns.
On the site, called Uber Movement, the company says the data can help measure the impact of road improvements, major events, new transit lines and give urban planners more information for future infrastructure decisions.
“In the weeks ahead, we’ll be inviting planning agencies and researchers to access our data to see the average time it takes to get from one area of the city to another,” Uber spokesman Nathan Hambley said in a statement. “We’ve partnered with organizations in Washington DC, Manila, and Sydney to refine this product and look forward to onboarding more cities soon.”
It is unclear exactly how much and what types of data Uber will release, but the Movement website gives hints with images of traffic patterns and travel times. Three studies on the site for Washington D.C., Manila and Australia analyze things like transit disruptions’ impact on traffic, highway performance and holiday traffic patterns.
Uber is fiercely protective of its ridership data, both for security and competitive reasons. It has fought with cities all over the world over data disclosures, including Seattle. Though it has supplied data to regulators in various cities, Uber and fellow ride-hailing companies like Lyft have filed lawsuits against municipalities to prevent public records requests from revealing their internal data.
