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There’s evidently some artificial intelligence technology that is capable of automatically detecting whether a passenger is inebriated, and Uber wants in on that action…
Here’s the deal…
Uber has filed to patent on a piece of artificial intelligence technology that is according to the Drinks Business ‘capable of automatically detecting whether a passenger is inebriated, giving drivers more information on their impending fare.”
Filed in 2016, the technology that Uber hopes to patent assesses the customer through their phone using the Uber app that takes into account how potential passengers are holding their phones and if they are swaying (a dead giveaway) how fast they are walking (not a dead giveaway), and whether they are any typos in their communications (OMG we’ll never get an Uber).
The patent states that the tech would help Uber “take an action to reduce undesired consequences” related to intoxicated passengers, which can run the gamut from vomiting in their vehicle to crying incessantly about how their parents don’t inkstand them.
ACB’s Tom Bobak waiting for an Uber
Critics deriding the impending technology warn that it opens passengers to potential discrimination by drivers, (drunks are people too!), who gain much of their trade from customers who’ve been drinking and at least have the good sense to not attempt driving themselves home.
An Uber spokesperson has noted that this AI technology is still a work in progress. Many patents never actually become a reality.
But American Craft beer sees this technology as concerning…and yet another sigh that robots will eventually take over the world.
