Global ride-hailing platform Uber on Friday
launched a light web-based version of Uber — m.uber.com — in India that will
help people book their rides from computers or tablets. So if you are at a
place with no access to smartphone, you can book your Uber from your laptop.
The lighter web-version became available in India from Friday.
“As part of our efforts to enable global access to
Uber, we’re focusing on two key areas for riders — building solutions for those
who don’t have access to the Uber app and enabling our existing rider app to
work better in emerging markets,” Daniel Graf, Vice President and Head of
Product at Uber, said in a statement.
The company also introduced three new app features
— offline search, request for a guest and call to ride.
Offline search is for the riders using the app in
limited network areas. With this feature, Uber is enabling offline search by
caching the top points of interest in the city so that riders can enter their
destinations in the app without having to wait for the connection, the company
said.
Another feature, request for a guest, will help
riders to book an Uber for anyone from their Uber app no matter where the rider
or guest is located.
To use this feature, the person requesting the ride
for a guest can simply tap “Where to?”, then choose who is riding above their
pickup location. The rider will receive trip information in an SMS text message
— including ETA, car type and driver contact information, enabling them to
coordinate with the driver directly.
The driver will see the rider’s name, and be able
to contact that person too (through a masked number, for privacy on both
sides). The ride will be charged to the requestor’s card on file unless the
requestor selects cash as the payment.
The roll out of both the features will begin in
next few weeks, the company added.
Through call to ride, riders can call single phone
number and enter a numeric code displayed on signage to help Uber identify
their location. Once the ride is confirmed, the rider will also be sent a text
message with information on the car and driver partner.
Currently, the company is piloting this feature
only in Pune.
“We believe these features will help us better
serve our rider needs and are very excited about the roll out,” Graf added.
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