Q&A: Uber's machine learning chief says pattern-finding computing fuels ride-hailing giant

Under the simple skin of Uber lies complexity you may not have considered: the logistics of predicting how long it will take rides (or meals) to arrive, setting pricing and even where to wait to give a driver the best odds of finding you for pick-up. Underlying those decisions is machine learning, using computers to find patterns and make predictions without explicitly programming them to do so. And that very important job falls to Danny Lange, a Danish-born researcher who joined the ride-hailing giant 11 months ago after a nearly two-year stint leading machine learning efforts for Amazon Web Services. Before that, Lange wrangled big data for Microsoft and even launched a Silicon Valley startup. He heads a growing team of researchers in San Francisco and Seattle.