Uber merges ride-hailing app and food app into one to streamline business after losing $5.2bn in three months
- Uber is set to merge its Uber Eats and Uber ride-hailing app into one location
- Will also add new safety tools such as a PIN that is verified with the driver
- Apps will also push alternate modes of transportation , like buses and scooters
Uber is set for a merger — of its apps that is.
The California company has announced it will merge its food delivery and ride-hailing applications into one to produce ‘the operating system for everyday life’.
The shift follows shortly after the firm’s cash loss woes surfaced, as it had lost $5.2 billion in the three-month period ending in June — its largest quarterly loss ever.
Uber has been under fire for its approach to safety and plagued by regulatory concerns, which has cost it billions of dollars.
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The merged app is said to have received a complete makeover. Instead of seeing a map or a nearby restaurant when you first open the app, you will see two boxes – ‘Get a ride’ or ‘Order food’
However, Dara Khosrowshahi insists the company is on the right track, and even expressed confidence in its business model – which may of been his way of hinting of the new application merge.
Reported by The Verge, the firm is merging its ride-hailing and food delivery apps, all while adding new safety features that push alternative modes of transportation – bikes, scooters and public transportation.
‘We don’t just live in the digital sphere, and the real world comes with all kinds of complications,’ Khosrowshahi told The Verge.
‘And for us, the challenge is: how do we navigate those complications and how do we make sure that we’re a constructive part of everyone’s life?’
And the merged app is said to have received a complete makeover.
Instead of seeing a map or a nearby restaurant when you first open the app, you will see two boxes – ‘Get a ride’ or ‘Order food’.
However, The Verge noted that not every costumer will be presented with the same screen, as second version keeps the map and destination search bar.
There will be two additional tabs on the bottom that read ‘ride’ and ‘eat’ allowing users to choose if they want food delivery or a car.
With past horror stories of riders getting into the wrong car flooding the news, Uber has released a four-digit PIN verification system that riders will need to say out loud to the drive before he or she can start the ride.
Uber will merge its food delivery (pictured) and ride-hailing apps into one to produce ‘the operating system for everyday life’. This comes after it was revealed it had lost $5.2 billion in the three-month period ending in June — its largest quarterly loss ever
However, the firm is set to release technology that uses ultrasound waves that will know when the rider is in the car.
The ‘Real-Time ID Check’, released in 2016, has been updated to make drivers move their hear around, blink and smile while looking in to a smartphone camera.
Finally, riders will be notified if they are dropped off near a bike line in a bid to avoid accidents.
The new safety features may be a result of Uber’s relaxed approach on rider safety in the past.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured at the event where the app merge announcement was made) insists the company is on the right track, and even expressed confidence in its business model – which may of been his way of hinting of the new application merge
All safety concerns that have been reported to Uber’s special investigation team have been basically hidden, as they are prohibited from share them with law enforcement or file official police reports ‘even when they get confessions of felonies,’ according to The Washington Post.
They are also not allowed to advise victims or potential victims of crimes to seek legal counsel.
‘We don’t think trust can be won with one thing,’ Kansal told The Verge. ‘I think the way we want to win trust is by showing commitment, and that’s going to be long term.’
