Ride Service for Unaccompanied Children at Lyft: Scope, MVP and Safety Metrics
Company: Lyft
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
As a product manager at Lyft, design a version of the ride-hailing service built for kids: a way for children to get where they need to go using Lyft's network.
Take the prompt from scoping to a launchable first version. Decide whom the product is for, which problems it must solve, what ships first and how you would know it is working.
```hint Who says yes
The child may be the one in the back seat, but someone else decides whether the ride ever happens. Work out whose trust the product has to earn first and what would make that person refuse.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Which ages are in scope: young children who still need a booster or car seat, pre-teens, or teenagers who could book a ride on their own?
- Does the child ride with no adult in the car, or is an adult companion sometimes along?
- Is this a feature in the existing Lyft rider app, booked and paid for from a parent's account, or a separate app that the child uses?
- Which market launches first, given that rules on transporting unaccompanied minors differ from place to place?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A justified scope: age band, trip types and launch market, plus a clear choice of the primary user among parent, child and driver.
- Pain points specific to a child riding with a stranger, including how the child is handed over at pickup and at drop-off.
- A prioritized first version that separates must-have safety and visibility features from nice-to-haves, with the trade-offs stated.
- Success metrics that pair adoption and repeat use with safety and reliability guardrails.
- Risks unique to this product: liability and regulation, driver supply, children's privacy, and the damage a single serious incident could do.
### Follow-up Questions
- During the pilot, a driver arrives at an activity center that turns out to be closed, with no adult there to receive the child. What should happen in that moment, and what do you change in the product afterward?
- How would you find enough qualified drivers for after-school hours without pulling supply away from regular riders?
- Would you let several children heading to the same place share one ride? What would it take to make that safe and acceptable to every parent involved?
Overview: A product design prompt that asks a PM candidate to create a Lyft ride service for children who travel without an adult. It tests scoping an age band and core user, earning parent trust, prioritizing a first version, and defining success metrics with safety guardrails.