Free lunch? No. Free ride from Uber? Yes!
In an effort to broaden its commercial reach, Uber announced Thursday a new feature that allows businesses to order and pay for client rides even if customers don’t have the Uber app on their phone.
Dubbed UberCentral, the tablet- and PC-based platform has been tested over the past few months at two dozen department stores, hotels and medical facilities, all enterprises that may want to provide rides to customers as a perk. There also is an option to charge the ride to a customer’s account with the business.
Bloomingdale’s made use of the service to bring shoppers in for sales events, Democratic party officials used it to get delegates around Philadelphia for the convention, and senior centers leveraged it to untether their visitors from rigid shuttle bus schedules.
“We knew the demand was out there, because some businesses were finding really creative ways to use the Uber app to book rides for customers,” UberCentral design leader Russell Wilkins told USA TODAY during a demo at the company’s headquarters here.
“The challenges we faced, however, involved building a new platform aimed at people who potentially have no smartphone and aren’t tech savvy.”
Available initially in the U.S. and Canada, UberCentral is slated to roll out to many of the ride-hailing juggernaut’s 76 global markets.
UberCentral differs from the company’s existing Uber for Business service in that it is aimed at booking rides for people who do not work at the client company. UberCentral represents yet another way in which the company is seeking ways to grow revenue. Recent innovations have included a partnership with Facebook to make it easy to order Uber rides from within the Messenger app, as well as UberEats, a service that delivers food.
Because a smartphone isn’t required to use UberCentral, text messages are sent to clients with ride details and a link to a map showing the location of the driver. Once a ride is finished, it simply shows up as “Completed.”