Lyft Driver Badges
Allowing drivers to be rewarded for desirable driving behaviors and riders to express preferences for these behaviors
Driver Badges is a Hackathon project that eventually became Preferred Driver, which launched in various regions across the U.S.
In 2024 I participated in the Lyft Hackathon as a Product Designer. Although the Hackathon was officially 72 hours long, the research and ideation for the project started weeks before and continued for weeks afterwards.
This hackathon idea eventually became the basis for Preferred Driver, which launched later that year in 50* regions that represent around 30% of Lyft's total rides. The estimated annual impact is $38M PMM and 2.7% increase in the number of rides.
*metrics have been obscured for confidentiality purposes
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
Q2 2024
Team
2 Product Designers, 1 PM, 1 Engineer, 1 Data Scientist, 1 Legal Counsel
Tools
Figma
In Lyft’s current marketplace drivers offer a homogeneous service and riders are not able to choose between drivers.
Problem Statement
Drivers are unable to market and differentiate themselves based on the quality of service provided to riders.
An extension of this problem is that they are unable to exploit earnings opportunities based on rider preferences for quality of service.
Riders have no opportunity to express preferences for drivers who exhibit the driving behaviors they value.
Vision: Driver Badges are rewarded to drivers who exhibit behaviors valued by riders
Smooth Cruiser
A driver who provides a high-quality in-ride experience with gentle braking, smooth turns, and gradual acceleration
Reliable Driver
A driver who provides a highly-reliable pickup experience with a short match times and low cancellation rates
Dashcam
A driver who has a Dashcam, which ensures safety and driver accountability
Spanish
A driver who can converse in Spanish
Driver badges can be viewed in the driver profile, and the benefits of achieving each badge is clearly communicated
Riders have opportunity to exploit preferences for drivers with badges that represent the behaviors they value
The total impact of Driver Badges is estimated to be $38M PMM* and a 2.7% increase in the number of rides.
This impact is the result of the following:
Driver Behavioral Improvement
Insurance Costs - We believe that by rewarding safe driving behavior through the Smooth Cruiser badge we can reduce insurance costs and generate $26MM annual PMM.
Acceptance Rate - We believe that by rewarding high acceptance rates through the Reliable Driver badge we can increase the acceptance rate by 10pp, generating an increase of 2.7% in number of rides.
Marketplace Prioritization
Acceptance Rate – We believe that through dispatch prioritization based on higher acceptance rates, we can generate an additional $0.019/ride PMM or $12MM annual PMM.
Driver Badges then became Preferred Driver, which launched in 50 regions that represent 30% of Lyft's total rides.
*PMM is a measure of profit
The design process started with rider and driver user stories and a list of product requirements.
Rider user story: As a rider, I want to indicate my preference for drivers who exhibit certain driving behaviors so that I may have a more pleasant experience.
Rider Product Requirement
Outcome
Riders should be able to indicate their preferences through account settings
High
Implemented
Riders should be able to indicate their preferences through the ride request screen
Medium
Not implemented, as this would distract riders from the golden path
When a rider’s preferences are matched, this moment should be celebrated by displaying the driver’s badge(s) on the driver match screen
High
Implemented
Driver user story: As a driver, I want to understand how I can achieve and maintain desirable driving behaviors so that I may provide more valuable services to riders and earn more income.
Driver Product Requirement
Outcome
Drivers should be able to see what badges they have
High
Implemented
Drivers should be able to understand why each badge is valuable.
High
Implemented
High
Implemented
High
Implemented
Medium
Not implemented, as we did not have enough time and resources
We then had time for a very quick and simple user flow.
Because of the fast-paced nature of the hackathon, we jumped straight from this user flow to creating hi-fi mocks.
The motivation for this hackathon project is really to promote the Smooth Cruiser badge, which needed to be launched ASAP.
Insurance is an enormous expense. Smooth Cruiser lowers that.
Smooth Cruiser the badge utilizes a telematics product called Smooth Cruiser that had already been built by the Risk team and approved by Legal Counsel. Smooth Cruiser the telematics product uses data from the drivers' phones to assign them a driving score based on the vehicle braking, steering, and speed. Since insurance eats up a whopping 30%* of Lyft's total costs, there is strong incentive to launch Smooth Cruiser as a way to ensure safer driving and increase profits through lowering insurance costs.
This smooth cruiser report screen had already been built. We incorporated it into the Driver Badges screens.
Smooth Cruiser combats adverse selection introduced by Uber Advantage.
There were talks that Uber had their own way of rewarding safe driving and was already piloting it in certain regions. Without a way to combat this, the riskier Uber drivers would be incentivized to drive for Lyft instead of Uber, consequently lowering the quality of Lyft drivers. Therefore, the Smooth Cruiser badge needed to be launched fast.
Uber Advantage is Uber's way of rewarding safe driving.
After the hackathon, only the Smooth Cruiser badge was pursued. The product was renamed Preferred Driver.
Designing the rider entry points was a source of contention.
Another challenge was designing the entry point for riders to express their preferences for badges. The team was pretty split, with half thinking that there should be multiple entry points and half thinking that there should be only one entry point in Rider preferences. After getting feedback from the Rider Product teams and other PMs, we implemented only one entry point in Rider Preferences because having it on the Ride Request Screen and Driver Match Screen distract the rider from the golden path.
Ride Request Screen (not pursued)
Driver Match Screen (not pursued)
Rider Preferences (pursued for hackathon)
Since this project became Preferred Driver, the list item changed to reflect that name.
Rider entry point for Preferred Driver (launched)
Showing the badge on the Driver Match screen was low priority, but shouldn't be.
Since these screens weren't critical to the functioning of Driver Badges and we had limited time and resources and had to launch quickly, members of our team did not show interest in implementing these. Plus, the most similar product, Women+ Connect, does not display an explicit message when a woman or non-binary rider gets matched with a woman or non-binary driver.
There is value in showing badges on the Driver Match screen because it indicates that the rider's preferences are heard, and it promotes the badges.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3 (pursued for hackathon)
Badge Match for Preferred Driver (launched)
Epilogue
This Hackathon was a finalist for the Lyft’s 2024 Hackathon, chosen as one of the top 30 submissions out of 100+.
Afterwards, the Product and Legal teams took this Driver Badges project and began working a product, Preferred Driver. Preferred Driver utilizes Smooth Cruiser, which is the most impactful of the driver badges we explored.
A provisional patent was filed for Preferred Driver, and then it was launched.
Preferred Driver launched in October 2024 in 69 regions that represent around 27% of Lyft’s total rides.
Reflections on the Driver Badges project
I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity to participate as a product designer on this project. I worked alongside experienced, knowledgeable team members on a reputable product that reaches millions of users, performing a role that is basically the same as the role of any product designer at Lyft, just in a more condensed time frame.
This project challenged me to convince others that my skills are valuable. Prior to joining this team I, as a data analyst, pitched my design experience to the Senior Designer and PM to convince them that I’d be a positive addition to the team. I’m glad they took a chance on me.
If I had more time:
I would definitely user test some of the design decisions. We came to these decisions through discussions with the team, which is a valuable exercise, but actual user feedback would legitimize our decisions.
The user research had already been done before I joined the team. Out of curiosity and also as part of a more holistic design process, I would’ve liked to delve deeper into the user problems. I’d like to know more metrics, like the percentage of drivers and riders who would want a product similar to Driver Badges, and the demographics of these users.
