Uber has partnered with Getaround for its upcoming ‘Uber Rent’ service which will allow riders to request a car rental instead of a ride from an Uber driver. The new service will be a feature available within the standard Uber application that you can install on Android and iOS devices, and will at first only be available in San Francisco as it will be the pilot city to test out the program and see if it works. Neither Uber nor Getaround mentions anything about the program and service expanding beyond San Francisco at this point in time, but for those that live in the area there will be options in the Uber app to rent a car soon enough.
According to the announcement cars that are shared through Getaround will be visible in the Uber app as part of the Uber Rent feature and will be located all around the city, and will include a range of vehicles from “low-emission sedans to sporty SUVs” though no specifics were mentioned in regards to the actual make and model of any vehicles. To find out this information users will simply have to be in San Francisco and open the Uber app once the the Uber Rent feature has launched to search for and find cars to rent.
There’s also no specific mention of how long cars could be rented for but the announcement does state that the idea is to allow users who want a car-free lifestyle to be able to strike a balance between getting rides from Uber drivers for quick trips with one or two stops and longer trips with more stops, which suggests that it may be possible to rent cars for hours, days, and possibly even weeks provided users are willing to spend the kind of money it will more than likely take to have a ride for that extended period of time. Once the service rolls out, people will be able to open the Uber app, sign up for Uber Rent powered by Getaround right within the app, and then search for, find, reserve, and then unlock vehicles in the app as well. When the reservation is over users will simply need to take the car back to its designated area, not unlike similar services such as Zipcar.