According to Engadget, Uber is launching a new insights platform called Uber Intelligence that will sell customer trip and delivery data to marketers. The data will be made anonymous through a third-party platform called LiveRamp before being combined with advertiser data to surface audience insights. Edwin Wong, global head of measurement at Uber Advertising, highlighted the “seamlessness” of this approach. The company’s ad business is already on track to hit a $1 billion annual run rate this year, even before this new initiative. Uber’s total revenue hit $40 billion in 2024, up from $37 billion in 2023, and the company has a noted history of raising consumer fares since 2018, outpacing inflation in some markets.
The Privacy Paradox
Here’s the thing: “anonymous” data is one of the slipperiest terms in tech. Uber says it’s using LiveRamp to anonymize everything, which basically means your personal identity is stripped out and replaced with a token. But advertisers can then match that token to their own customer data. So, while your name isn’t on it, a detailed behavioral profile absolutely is. The example Uber gives—a hotel brand using rideshare data to pick restaurant partners—sounds benign. But the other example, identifying “heavy business travelers” to bombard them with ads in the app or in vehicles, feels incredibly intrusive. It turns a service you use into a captive advertising channel. Fun times, indeed.
A Desperate Grab for Profit?
Look, this isn’t exactly surprising. Uber’s core rides and delivery businesses are under constant pressure to finally become sustainably profitable. They’ve raised prices for years, and now they’re squeezing every possible cent from the data those services generate. An ad business on a $1 billion run rate is nothing to sneeze at, and this data play is a direct lever to pump that number even higher. But it raises a big question: when does a utility become an exploitation engine? You’re already paying a premium for the ride or the food delivery. Now, your behavior within that transaction becomes a product sold again, on the backend. It feels like a double-dip.
The Creep Factor and What’s Next
And let’s talk about the creep factor. The insight that someone who orders Thai food on Tuesday nights also takes rides to the airport on Thursday mornings is incredibly valuable to marketers. But for the user, it’s just… weird. It adds a layer of surveillance to a simple transaction. I think the real risk here is mission creep. Today it’s “which restaurants do hotel guests visit?” Tomorrow, it could be insurance companies looking at late-night ride patterns, or employers gauging commute consistency. Once this data pipeline is built and monetized, the incentive to find new, “innovative” ways to use it will be enormous. Basically, we’re trusting Uber and its partners to draw a very firm ethical line that their entire business model will now incentivize them to blur.
