On Dec. 2, 2014, Uber Technologies, Inc. filed for a trademark of UberDriver at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The filing for UberDrive, which is packed with vague phrases that reveal little by way of detail, makes repeated mention of games.
From the filing, it appears the game is intended to be multi-platform, as the trademark describes the service as “electronic game software for hand-held devices, mobile phones, computers, and laptop.”
UberDrive also would seem to have an emphasis on location-based information. The trademark lists the use of GPS data, map, and geographic information, and “navigation software for calculating and displaying routes” within its services. It also lists its utility as an entertainment service as “providing road navigation games online and in mobile wireless form”
It’s likely that UberDrive will serve as a sort of gamification of Uber’s training process. The trademark describes UberDrive as “interactive online training services in the field of navigation.” Whether that would make it simply an in-house service for upstart drivers or if it will have a consumer branch, perhaps as a recruitment tool, is difficult to say.
Uber has had its hands full lately, with a massive valuation of $40 billion doing little to quell the ongoing wildfire of legal battles, controversies, and pushback from potential users. Uber wouldn’t be the first company to take its pile of money and try its hand at mobile apps, though the track record of that approach can be a little shaky.
It would make much more sense for UberDrive to tie directly into Uber proper, though given some of the horror stories involving Uber drivers, maybe a Grand Theft Auto: Uber isn’t all that unthinkable.