Trying to find ways to integrate the ride-sharing service and the food delivery operation, Uber Technologies has introduced several ways to merge the two services.
The first is food pickup during a ride share. When the rider is in the car, the Uber app. will let the person know which restaurants are along the way. The order is placed and the driver is informed about the food pickup. The driver’s app. will automatically update and reroute the vehicle. When the vehicle gets to the restaurant, the rider gets out of the vehicle and pickup the food. Food can also be pre-ordered before the ride and calculated into the path of the ride. The rider does have to pay for the additional mileage to pick up the food, but that amount is presumably less than ordering an Uber Eats driver for the food.
“Pickup and Go lets you make quick stops without having to request another Uber driver,” according to the company.
At the same time, Uber is combining monthly membership plans for Uber rides and Uber Eats. Customers are not charged for the delivery of food and groceries and receive a discount on Uber rides.
The idea is to integrate the two services and hopefully, one would guess, try to get people taking Uber rides again. Over the last year, Uber has shifted more toward delivery as the demand for ride-sharing services was drastically reduced. Besides restaurants, the company has also expanded into grocery and prescription delivery.
“In 2020, Uber shifted gears to bring grocery, convenience, prescriptions, personal care, alcohol, and more local commerce into the Uber Eats app alongside restaurants,” according to the company. “Since last spring, we’ve worked with more than one million merchants to help move more than 1.5 billion orders around the world. Now we’re helping to make delivery even easier.”
