Facebook, Uber bring ride hailing to Messenger

Facebook has forayed into the transportation business. The social network has announced its partnership with  ride hailing service Uber to allow users to request an Uber ride directly from the Messenger app.

To use this feature, users must have the most recent version of Messenger. Then they can call an Uber by tapping the More menu and choosing Transportation option or they can search directly for Uber and tap the car icon. Requesting a ride also works within the conversations with friends, just by tapping on an address shared in the thread. Users will then receive driver status updates, and they can notify their friends that they've called a ride. The payments are handled with a private Messenger conversation with Uber.

On the blog post, Facebook states that, users will not need to have the Uber app installed on their smartphone to use this feature. As an introductory offer, you can get a free ride the first time you use this feature with Uber. 

The new service will be first introduced in the United States in cities that have Uber, and plans for international expansion later. Currently, the new service is in testing mode and will be available to select users in cities in the U.S where Uber operates. 

Source

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative