Uber Getting In The Face Of Drivers

In a bizarre marketing gimmick that may prompt frustrated drivers to reach for an easy-to-deploy projectile, Uber has started flying ad-carrying drones to within a few feet of cars stuck in traffic in Mexico City.

Buzzing in front of windshields, the dangling poster asks in Spanish, “Driving by yourself?”
It then berates any single-occupant car owners with the message, “This is why you can never see the volcanoes.”

According to digitaltrends.com, it’s a reminder to the city’s residents that beyond its infamous thick smog are two possibly picturesque peaks, which might actually be viewable if there weren’t so many cars on the road pumping out fumes the whole time.

But more than that, it’s an ad for UberPool, Uber’s carpooling product that encourages riders to share vehicles to the same, or similar, destinations.

The San Francisco-based company currently operates in 65 cities throughout the region, though has plans to double its presence by the start of 2018. It’s already making serious inroads there, as Brazil is currently Uber’s third-biggest market after the U.S. and India. Mexico City, meanwhile, is its busiest city on the entire planet.