Imagine that you are a product manager at Uber. And you want children to use Uber as an independent user. How would you tackle this problem? Feel free to either build a new app or modify existing app.

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Imagine that you are a product manager at Uber. And you want children to use Uber as an independent user. How would you tackle this problem? Feel free to either build a new app or modify existing app.

Asked at Microsoft over a year ago

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Product Design category

& 1 other company

Asked at

& 1 other company

2.4k views

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Dmitry Smola · Answer 1 · 2022-10-07T00:19:35+0000

This type of 'children's product' usually strongly connects with parents. And one of the main goals, in that case, is not to create an app that young people would use, but to ensure that we create enough value for their parents.

I think parents already use Uber to commute with their children or even send them alone. I would follow these steps:

Business goals
Define current demand
Make a user research
Create a fake test
Make a final decision
Soft launch

Business goals

In big tech companies, apps are not built just because some product manager wants them :) So, before the start, it's essential to know the strategic goals we want to achieve.

Overall, there are two main goals:

Increase revenue from existing customers
Attract new

At first glance, it seems this app could mainly lead to the first goal, because its primary customers are parents, not kids.

Defining a demand

Firstly, we need to estimate the number of rides with children, which already happen. It's possible to do with the data we have:

calculate rides from / to
- kindergartens
- schools
- schools clubs
- POI for children
figure out rides with child seats

Make user research

Now we have to find out:

main reasons for that rides
which problems parents are facing with them
alternatives they use

We can achieve this with polls and customer development sessions with users we got from the previous step. At this step, we want to figure out, if there are any specific requirements from young people that could be a reason to create a new app.

Fake test

The best way to save resources is a fake test. I would exclude a few user cohorts and launch a phone call test, where we offer existing customers to sign in for a waiting list for the new app, or launch a small email campaign.

This step can save lots of resources and shape the final product.

Make a final decision

Here we should have a lot of info:

Rides analytics data
customer research data
fake test data

It's nice to add some alternatives from other markets (for example, mobile operators' subscription packages and their apps for children or similar fintech products).

Now it's time to arrange a meeting with a tech lead and estimate the development cost.

Soft launch

We should choose one country to launch our app to minimize possible problems. After we fix all major bugs, we could start to roll out in other regions.

Neel88 · Answer 2 · 2022-09-25T09:12:52+0000

Clarification questions:

Are we focussing on a specific Geography to start with here? - Assuming India to start with

Do we have any timelines and technical constraints? Assuming no rigid timelines

Are we focusing on Uber Ride or Uber Eats? Assuming Uber rides

What is the Goal for launching this? Assume Uber wants to target new user segments and drive more engagement and revenue

Product:

As a network orchestrator, Uber's key service product is, real-time, ridesharing transportation

User Groups:

Children below 5 years - Are not tech-savvy and have limited knowledge of apps and technologies

Children between 6 - 10 years - They are just getting into primary schools and may not have access to mobiles or smartphones

Children between 11 -15 years - More tech-savvy and have access to smartphones and have decent know-how of Apps & Tech

I would focus more on Children between 10-15 years as they are the ones who would be more inclined towards being independent users and have some knowledge of tech and apps.

User Journey:

1) User Signs up for the app.

2) Difficult to get rides during peak times, Driver canceling rides, etc

3) Children would mostly have recurring schedules like 9 to 5 Schools, Weekend classes like Swimming, Dancing, Music, etc..Difficult to find and schedule rides on a recurring basis

4) Ride Monitoring & Safety Measures

5) Alternative Cabs in case of breakdown

6) Making payments

7) Activities during the journey from A to B.

Solutions and Prioritization

Use Case	Solution	Impact	Cost to Implement	Priority
1) User Signs up for the app.	We will leverage the existing Uber App and perhaps have a new profile added to the Main User (who could be parent/guardian). The new profile will be specifically for Kids and they will only see cabs which are specialized for kids like Uber Kid. Further each Uber Kid Cab can come with different models like UberKidBasic, UberKidGold, UberKidPremium etc..Will get into these categories later.	High (Separate interface for Kids and Adults would be enticing and will enhance the user experience)	Low	P1
2) Difficult to get rides during peak times, Driver cancelling rides, etc	Uber Kids could have a feature which can basically prebook a dedicated driver and cab for school drop and pickups. The user gets presented a form with school start time and end times and days. The driver and cab can be prebooked for a certain week. Hassle free approach without having to worry about missing rides or school due to cancellations, high demand etc. Further AI/ML Algos can be built which suggest drivers based on ratings/reviews/Rankings/Location	High	Med	P1
3) Children would mostly have recurring schedules like 9 to 5 Schools, Weekend classes like Swimming, Dancing, Music, etc..Difficult to find and schedule rides on a recurring basis	Similar to point 2). Need a similar feature which can basically schedule and prebook recurring patterns or travels not just for school but also for other kids activities like visiting a sports complex, Weekend classes like Swimming, Music etc	High	Med	P1
4) Ride Monitoring & Safety Measures	The child profile in uber app will have inbuilt Monitoring capabilities like GPS location tracking which would send the location details to a parent. This feature can be turned on/off depending on the need. The child profile can also be setup with some SOS buttons in app which the child could use to call a parent by just one click. The buttons could be configured to call a specific number. Further the Cabs with category UberKidGold and UberKidPremium could come with Camera and Sensors which could basically track the child during the journey and record these details in Uber App. The video clip recordings can be saved per trip and archived later if needed	High	High	P1
5) Alternative Cabs in case of breakdown	If a driver stops the car due to a breakdown, the app should have the ability to take the current ride details and book another cab automatically from the current location to the destination.	Med	Med	P2
6) Making payments	The Payment could be initiated with the shared wallet between parent profile and kid profile. Usually kids are not used to digital wallets and Net banking. This could be simplified by using a shared payment wallet between a parent and child. The Wallet could be used to prebook any rides from say a home to school and vice versa.	High	Low	P1
7) Activities during the journey from A to B.	The Cab categories UberKidGold and UberKidPremium could come with attached tablets on seats which can be used by child for gaming, checking educational videos etc. Uber can tie up with educational Learning systems like Byjus in order to provide the educational content during long rides from home to a destination	Med	High	P2

Based on the above table, I would like to first focus on 1),2),3), 4) and 6) as we can leverage the existing Uber Platform to build most of the features. Gaming and Educational learning is good to have but it would need partnership with other companies and other integrations to be set up with devices and apps. This would take time and effort to build.