Originally Posted by
frankvb
Slightly OT, but be aware that in booking an Uber ride in advance will probably cost you more, and there is no guarantee that an Uber will show up at the time you booked. Basically the system doesn't pre-assign anything, but just adds your ride to the system automatically when it's almost time (not any different from if you would just use the app at that point in time).
E.g.
https://www.reddit.com/r/uber/commen..._uber_reserve/
This is not quite right. There are two Uber products for booking rides in advance: Reserve (relatively new, rolled out in the last 2 years), and scheduled rides. Scheduled rides are as you describe, basically just an alarm that puts you in the queue at the time you specify. Reserve is different; there is a guarantee of sorts associated with it (I believe a $10 credit if the car doesn't show up), and the system tries to prebook the ride with a specific driver. If the prebooking fails, your ride is prioritized higher than others in the system, so you have a better chance of getting a car at the right time than with a scheduled ride. The failure rate on Reserve rides is very low, higher on scheduled rides.
If you see a message after booking indicating "Looking for a driver", or "<xxx> will provide your ride" (I don't remember the exact wording but something like that) at the top of the ride detail page, then you have a Reserve ride.
I am a former Uber employee and confident that this information is more-or-less correct.