Your Uber Data Is Being Mined to Prevent Bridge Collapses
An infamous quote about “known unknowns” comes to mind when discussing the kinds of data that rideshare apps collect from their users. Because truly, there are things we know the apps track—position, acceleration, even battery life—and then forms of data we likely don’t even think to consider. And it’s not just users: the Uber driver app collects boatloads of data on rideshare drivers themselves, including tracking them in between trips.
It’s an unnerving part about these new services—creating plenty of suspicion over privacy and malfeasance with personal information, but there is still some good that can come from collecting and utilizing these vast data troves from drivers. Case in point: a new study published Thursday in Communications Engineering found that two simple measurements—GPS and acceleration—give structural engineers crucial information on a bridge’s health, providing insight on how to preserve these essential structures for longer and prevent deadly collapses.
Thomas Matarazzo, a structural engineer at the U.S. Military Academy who led the new research, had spent over a decade thinking about how to use moving sensors rather than traditional fixed ones to monitor infrastructure health.