Uber Central launched in India, lets businesses rent cabs

Uber has launched a new service in India under its Uber for Business (U4B) platform. Called Uber Central, this new service provides businesses an option to rent cabs listed on the Uber platform to ferry their clients, customers and guests.

As an example, a hotel offering pickup and drop services from the nearest airport now doesn't need to maintain its own fleet of cars and drivers. Instead, it can book cabs for the guests through the Uber Central platform.

Uber Central is the company's first global one-to-many ride booking service which allows businesses to manage multiple rides at the same time, from a single user dashboard. To book a ride for any client, customer or guest, an operator just needs to enter the contact details, pickup and drop off points and ride category for the customers on the Uber Central dashboard. Once the booking is made, the operator can also track the ride on a real-time basis and see the expected time of arrival (ETA). Additionally, Uber Central also gives businesses the option to pay for the rides of their clients or customers.

Interestingly, customers who receive rides from the Uber Central platform don't need to have an Uber account or the company's smartphone app. They will receive details regarding the driver's name and contact number, licence plate number of the cab and vehicle make and model through an SMS. The customer will also receive a call from the driver once the cab reaches the pickup point.

Source: Economic Times