- Uber is turning its app into a personal assistant with several new features.
- Users can now book hotels and ask for a specific drink or snack during their Uber ride.
- The features take Uber closer to "super app" status.
Uber's newest features make the app feel less like a ride-hailing service and more like a personal assistant.
The tech company unveiled several new tools on Wednesday at its annual Go-Get Conference, where it showcases new products. The options aim to fill a variety of demands, from "Have a coffee waiting for me in my ride to the airport" to "Book me a hotel for my trip next week."
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the goal is to save users time — "your most precious asset" — during a presentation in New York City.
"We should have more time to spend on the things that we really care about, our family, our hobbies, our experiences, our passions, our lives," he said.
The new features take Uber beyond rides and food deliveries and toward the status of a "super app," which offers a variety of services in one place.
One of Uber's new features allows users to book US hotels in the app through a partnership with Expedia, the travel booking company that the Financial Times reported Uber considered bidding for in 2024 and where Khosrowshahi was previously CEO.
Later this year, Uber plans to expand travel booking to include properties listed on Expedia's vacation-rental site Vrbo and to allow users to book Uber rides to and from where they're staying.
Uber is also adding a "travel mode" to the app with suggestions on what to see, where to eat, and options for ordering food or essentials to where a user is staying. "Users can now think of the Uber app as a personal travel concierge," the company said.
Uber Black or Uber Black SUV riders can soon request that a drink or snack be ready for them when they get in the vehicle through a coming feature called "Eats for the Way."
"Saving those 10 minutes standing in line at the coffee shop is 10 extra minutes with your kids," Amit Fulay, Uber's vice president of product, said on Wednesday.
Uber is also letting customers place orders at stores not listed in the app, such as local grocers and mom-and-pop shops, with a "Shop for Me" feature. Customers can provide instructions to a gig worker about what they want and where to get it.
It's also rolling out the option to book rides by voice instead of tapping through screens to place a ride request.
The new options are an extension of Uber's original ride-share business model, which told customers to "press a button and get a ride," Sachin Kansal, Uber's chief product officer, said at Wednesday's presentation. The goal of the new features, Kansal said, is to "make life easier for you."
"That's how you should think about the future of Uber," he said.
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