Uber books cabs a month in advance

Uber, the taxi company, has introduced a feature that allows customers to book cars up to a month in advance. It marks a major step for the group, which had only allowed users of its mobile app to book a ride to arrive immediately, and potentially another blow to the taxi industry.

UBER has launched a feature that allows customers to pre-book cars up to a month in advance of when they will need them, a significant step for the car hailing app that had only allowed users to book a ride to arrive immediately.

The addition of the Scheduled Rides feature means that Uber customers in London can book a car to arrive anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 days in advance of when they will need it. Until now, traditional taxi and minicab companies have held the advantage of allowing customers to reserve journeys ahead of time.

The feature was launched as Uber reported losses of at least $1.27bn (£960m) in the first half of the year, with as much as $750m of those being lost in the second quarter alone. The Scheduled Rides option will initially be available only to Uber for Business users, but will become an option for ondon customers in the next fortnight.

“Instead of tapping a button a few minutes before you need your ride, you can now tell us hours or days in advance when you need a car and we’ll do it for you,” said Tom Elvidge, the general manager of Uber in London.