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If you’re familiar with the fairly popular ride sharing service Uber which is seeing itself readily available in a handful of states within the U.S., but also in 35 countries on a global scale, then you probably already know about the types of benefits that it could provide to those who live in more metropolitan areas with a larger population. Uber already has an app available for users on Android and iOS which is easy enough to use on its own, but along with the recent Google Maps app update there is now an easier way to interact with the Uber service and find yourself a quick ride. Within Google Maps. The latest update now allows you to find and place orders for Uber ride share services whenever you search Maps for directions via public transit, as long as the Uber app is installed on your device as well. As always Google has found a way to make the use of its own apps along with those on its mobile OS platform more convenient and user friendly.
As stated above Uber is a service that is available in over 35 countries around the Globe and growing, with many of those cities being in the U.S. like Phoenix, Boston, Atlanta, Sacramento, Seattle and many more, but also in cities from other countries like Dubai, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Google could easily add this type of feature for other ride sharing services as Uber isn’t the only one available on such a large scale, and certainly isn’t the only one that provides an app for the two biggest mobile OS platforms. Uber is however the only ride sharing service that Google itself has any stake in, so it makes sense that they would integrate the capability to locate and use Uber from within its Maps application. This could mean more for Google than just providing an easier way for users to find Uber vehicles in their hometown though.
Since Google already owns a large portion of Uber as a company, it’s not too far off to think that Uber could become fully part of Google down the line and end up becoming much more than ride shares. Engadget points out the possibility Google operated driverless vehicles using Uber as their launchpad, which isn’t far fetched either if they were to acquire Uber completely and absorb them. Google has already been testing their driverless vehicles and has recently been furthering efforts to get their self driving cars to master city streets and the tons of variables within them. While Uber provides a simple to use ride share service now, in the future they could be an easy way for Google to serve the cities where Uber already operates with driverless deliveries and much more. What do you think? If Google acquired Uber and began providing driverless services would you use them?