Domino's 2006 Pizza Tracker Became Template for Uber, TurboTax Status Bars

NPR's Planet Money traced the origins of the real-time order-tracking animation now common across delivery and service apps back to Domino's, which built the Pizza Tracker in the mid-2000s after dropping its 30-minute delivery guarantee. The tool launched before the 2006 Super Bowl and let customers watch their order's progress from placement to delivery. Design director Shuya Gong told NPR the pattern has since been adopted by companies like Uber and repair shops, and that she has designed similar trackers for banks and TurboTax.