Rio Olympics: Uber, Visa partner to offer 'Olympic experience'

RIO DE JANEIRO – Uber and Visa have partnered to bring customers of both companies an “Olympic experience.” Beginning Aug. 5, when the games started, customers who requested Uber Visa RioPOOL in select cities could share an interactive ride in special vehicles, and could even share a ride with an athlete from Team Visa.
“That’s a magical experience when you use your Uber app,  explained Chris Curtin, chief brand and innovation marketing officer at Visa. “We wanted to bring Visa into this magic experience and we wanted people to have an Olympic moment if you’re a rider of [an] Uber vehicle in six cities,” The program is available in Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Santiago, San Francisco, Dubai and New York City.
Selected vehicles were transformed to provide a virtual experience of swimming, sprinting, paddling and more. During the ride, passages will be able to add filters and features like animated soccer balls or 3-D faces donning swimming goggles on an in-car tablet.
Uber spokeswoman Leticia Mazon explained the initiative is part of Uber’s strategy to incentive the usage of Uber Pool in Rio de Janeiro. “It makes sense to put more people in the same car.”
Uber has more than 10,000 drivers in Brazil with a goal to achieve 50,000 by October.

Click here for more stories about the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series focused on the technology deployments that support the Rio Olympics. Travel costs to Rio de Janeiro were provided by Visa.