Uber Launches Creepy Drones To Harass New Mexican Drivers?

Photographer: Brett Gundlock/Bloomberg

Yahoo Sports called it "creepy," and from a dystopian sci-fi movie. MIT Technology Review called it "Ad-Toting Drones Are Heckling Drivers"--and that's coming from a magazine that advocates technological development.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it myself--I thought the company was only into self-driving taxis.

But now Uber is apparently in the business of drone advertisement--and they've locked their sites on New Mexican drivers from which the taxi company is seeking market share, as outlined in a recent Bloomberg article. 

The drones are shown hovering above vehicle windshields with slogans on them, such as "driving by yourself? This is why you can no longer see the volcanos." Am I the only one to see the double-standard in this propaganda? Maybe the driver can't see the volcanos from all the drones hovering over his head. 

I agree with the Yahoo Sports writer, there are very few things creepier than drones. But an even stranger thing about it is that it's coming from a company that is trying to sell a service. Wouldn't they want to do it with more subtlety? 

In a previous article, I wrote about Uber and Tesla as more than mere companies--they are social planners. The Uber agenda is not just to get its cars on the roads, but to transform how society drives from one place to another. 

Hence, there's an element of tyranny to it; a kind of techno-revolution to Uber that is highlighted in its very aggressive marketing scheme. Yet another inconsistency is Uber's desire to reshape the landscape of our world from pavement to forests, from tar to greenery. 

To me, they are paving the air with drones while trying desperately to coerce people into driverless cars. 

Where's the humanity in that?