Uber wants to save drivers some money when traveling long distances.
The app-based car service on Tuesday launched a new service for drivers dubbed UberCommute, which lets you commute long distances and share the cost of the trip. At this point, UberCommute is only available in Uber's No. 1 market—Chengdu, China—but the company said it hopes to expand the feature to other cities around the world in the future.
"It's carpooling at the press of a button," Uber said in a blog post.
Here's how it works: Drivers sign into the app and tell Uber where they're going. The app then shows requests from riders who are traveling in the same direction, as well as the payment they will receive for the trip. The driver can then decide whether to accept the request or not.
"For riders, it's Uber as usual," the company said. You'll select People's Uber (the Chinese version of UberPool), input your destination like normal, and Uber will try to match you with a driver going the same way.
Uber said this is the first time it's launched a new feature outside the U.S. "We've chosen China to pilot UberCommute … because of the tremendous appetite amongst Chinese drivers and riders for creative new ways to get from A to B, affordably and reliably," Uber said.
In June, leaked docs revealed that Uber users in China are taking almost 1 million trips per day.
The launch comes after Uber this week launched its carpooling service UberPool in India. With the launch, UberPool is now available in 12 cities around the world. The company added that in many cities—such as San Francisco, New York, Chengdu, or Paris—its drivers are carting so many people around that there are a "ton of duplicate rides."
"With services like UberCommute and UberPool we're making it possible for them to share the ride," the company wrote.
Meanwhile, Uber this week had a legal setback in France, where the highest constitutional authority shut down the company's appeal of a law banning its low-cost service Uberpop. The Wall Street Journal reported that France's Constitutional Council on Tuesday ruled that a new regulation which makes "operating a system like Uberpop punishable with prison time is in accordance with France's constitution."
Source: pcmag.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment