Uber To Annoy Riders With Its Own Version Of Taxi TV

Web Desk — The ride-hailing service Uber just announced its in-car tablets just to show the company’s ads during your trip. Thankfully, the company is not rolling out the program widely yet; initially it is being launched in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Officials from the Uber taxi service say they have partnered with over 40 brands, including NBCUniversal, Heineken, and United Artists Releasing for its new “Journey Ads” campaign.

For Uber taxi tv advertising, the company also created an advertising division. To help build out this offering and plans on sticking more ads in the Uber Eats app, in emails, on digital storefronts, and through car-top ads — a sort of digital billboard drivers can place on the roof of their vehicles.

Before Uber, another taxi service ‘Lyft’ launched a similar advertising arm in August and started displaying ads on in-car tablets in Los Angeles-based vehicles. Unlike Uber, the ‘Lyft tablets’ don’t just display ads as riders can “track progress along their route, rate and tip drivers, and control the music of their ride through our partnership with iHeartRadio.”

Uber just reported $382 million in August and it is still struggling to become profitable. However, a new proposal from the Department of Labor could change the way it does business, potentially making it harder for services, like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, to classify certain workers as contractors.

This could require these companies to give drivers new benefits and protections, such as minimum wage and overtime.