One of the largest drawbacks of using Uber's car-hailing service has been the inability to book a ride in advance. Uber listened to its user base and will begin testing this new feature in Seattle.
The testing phase of the new format will allow users to book a ride up to 30 days in advance. The feature will initially be rolled out to business users who are more likely to schedule a 4 a.m. pickup to head to the airport or a late night pickup after a long meeting.
Scheduled rides will be priced similarly to a normal UberX ride and may be subject to "surge" pricing.
Tom Fallows, Uber's director of global experiences told the Seattle Times that the new feature is aimed at individuals who "want an extra degree of assurance Uber will be there when they head out."
Fallows also said that while scheduling seems to be a simple and straightforward process, it actually requires complex algorithms to properly determine the right time to send the pick up request to a driver.
Finally, Uber plans to expand its scheduled ride offering to new cities; interested users can sign up in advance here.
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