How We Use Machine Learning

Peter Frazier

by Jackie Swift

If you’ve ever used Uber, then you probably know about surge pricing, times when the fare price suddenly increases for rides originating in a certain location. For riders, a surge can be an unanticipated expense that makes them look for other transportation. For drivers, it represents an opportunity: get to where the surge is happening and make more money.

“If you’re a driver and you’re far away from the area that is surging, you might consider going there if you can be sure the surge price will remain in effect,” says Peter I. Frazier, Operations Research and Information Engineering. “But you also know other drivers might get there before you and take all the rides, so you might decide not to go.”

Read more on Cornell Research

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