TECH1400

Database Design and Management

Student Name: Zeel
Uber is a provider of transportation that enables drivers to monetize their services and get
payment using a mobile application that clients may use to request a ride. Uber is a ride-sharing
enterprise that engages independent contractors as drivers. It is only one of several services
now accessible that facilitate the sharing economy by providing a means to connect pre-existing
resources rather than physically delivering the goods themselves.
The company was founded in 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, with its main office
situated in San Francisco. Globally, the firm is projected to own 110 million users.
How does it operate?
Uber uses the Uber app to connect drivers and riders. The drivers often own their own vehicles.
Additionally, the firm leases and rents automobiles through partners including Get Around, Fair,
and Hertz. Uber Fleet is an app designed for fleet managers.
Utilizing a ridesharing application like as Uber offers several benefits in comparison to
conventional modes of transportation. Uber's dynamic pricing strategy incentivizes drivers to
converge in certain locations during peak demand periods, hence increasing the likelihood of
finding an available car when customer demand is high. The Uber application also provides
customers with a map that shows the whereabouts of all available drivers in the vicinity. After
selecting a driver, the passenger may observe the driver's real-time navigation towards the pick-
up spot, receiving regular updates on the expected arrival time. This enables maximum
convenience when organizing a ride. Uber, like other elements of the sharing economy, has a
common advantage when seen from a wider standpoint. An advantage of organizations that
adopt a sharing model is their potential to optimize the utilization of underutilized assets, such
as tools, clothing, residences, and in the case of Uber, automobiles.
Uber utilizes a dynamic pricing strategy to offer transportation services to both drivers and
users. Through the application, those who want transportation can submit a request for a driver
at a projected expense that fluctuates depending on the geographical area and current level of
demand. Uber offers drivers higher compensation during periods of high demand in order to
incentivize them to accept more ride requests. To ensure that a sufficient amount of drivers are
accessible, passengers are charged an additional fee during peak hours. Occasions such as
New Year's Eve typically result in passengers having to bear increased expenses. Unlike a taxi,
individuals may expect that the fare would attract a chauffeur instead of a vehicle that may not
have originated from a taxi company.
Recently, there have been several pessimistic forecasts suggesting that robots will cause
significant disruptions in the workplace. Although the majority of these narratives have
emphasized the robots' potential to replace human occupations, it is more probable that they
will assist and augment human workers in the workplace. Uber exemplifies this phenomenon,
since the individuals fulfilling the role of "managers" within the corporation are just as likely to be
computer programmed as they're human managers. A research released few years ago
examined the intricacies of this relationship.
The Uber process is mostly automated, with drivers primarily dealing with the integrated
management system within the smartphone app. This automated administrator will allocate
pickup requests to the drivers, provide them with evaluations about their performance (including
workload and passenger happiness), and enforce penalties for failure to meet the required
requirements.
Data Types Stored:
User Information:
Rider and driver personal data (names, contact information, etc.).
Settings and preferences of the user.
Geospatial Data:
Real-time location information on drivers and riders.
Location history for analytics and optimized routes.
Trip Data:
Specifics of every journey, such as departure and arrival times, travel lengths, and costs.
Reviews and opinions from drivers as well as passengers.
Financial Data:
Invoices, payment information, and transaction logs.
Wages and incentives for drivers.
Vehicle Data:
Details on the cars that drivers use.
Records for upkeep.

Important Words and Ideas:

 Normalization is the process of data organization that minimizes dependencies and
redundancies.
 Durability, Isolation, Consistency, and Atomicity guarantee the dependability of database
transactions.
 By enabling quicker data retrieval, they improve query performance.
 Sets of activities carried out in unison to preserve data consistency.
 The process of duplicating database material to increase fault tolerance and data
availability.
 Horizontal data division over several databases to enhance scalability is known as
sharding.
 Methods used to make database queries run more smoothly.

Information Security:
 Encryption: Sensitive data is protected in transport and storage via encryption.
 Access Control: Restricts database access according to the roles of users and
permissions.
 Audit Trails: Monitors database usage for safety and legality.
Database structure for ERM:
User:
 UserID (Primary Key)
 FirstName
 LastName
 Email
 Phone
 Preferences (e.g., language, music preferences).

Location:
 LocationID (Primary Key)
 Latitude
 Longitude
 Address

Trip:
 TripID (Primary Key)
 UserID (Foreign Key referencing User)
 DriverID (Foreign Key referencing Driver)
 StartLocationID (Foreign Key referencing Location)
 EndLocationID (Foreign Key referencing Location)
 StartTime
 EndTime
 Distance
 Fare

Driver:
 DriverID (Primary Key)
 UserID (Foreign Key referencing User)
 VehicleID (Foreign Key referencing Vehicle)
 Earnings
 Ratings

Vehicle:
 VehicleID (Primary Key)
 DriverID (Foreign Key referencing Driver)
 Make
 Model
 Year
  LicensePlate
 MaintenanceHistory

Payment:
 PaymentID (Primary Key)
 TripID (Foreign Key referencing Trip)
 Amount
 PaymentMethod
 Timestamp
References:
Gaskell, A. (no date) How Uber Drivers Feel About Being Managed By Machines, Forbes.
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2018/05/08/how-do-uber-drivers-feel-
about-being-managed-by-machines/
McDaid, E., Andon, P. and Free, C. (2023) ‘Algorithmic management and the politics of
demand: Control and resistance at Uber’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 109, p.
101465. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2023.101465.
Sule, S. and Varvarina, D. (no date) ‘Management Information Systems Case Study: Uber and
its Surcharge Policy’. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/24184856/Management_Information_Systems_Case_Study_Uber_a
nd_its_Surcharge_Policy
‘System Design of Uber App - Uber System Architecture’ (2023) GeeksforGeeks, 17 May.
Available at: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/system-design-of-uber-app-uber-system-
architecture/
The History of Uber (no date) Investopedia. Available at:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/111015/story-uber.asp
Uber Engineering’s Tech Stack: The Foundation (2016) Uber Blog. Available at:
https://www.uber.com/blog/tech-stack-part-one-foundation/
What is Uber? - Definition from Whatis.com (no date) WhatIs.com. Available at:
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Uber