Uber adds ride booking via WhatsApp in India

The integration makes Uber’s own app unnecessary: WhatsApp users can register, book rides and receive trip receipts entirely within the chat interface. — Bloomberg

Uber Technologies Inc and Meta Platforms Inc’s WhatsApp have rolled out ride booking via the messenger service in India, a first for the US ride-hailing giant and an expansion of WhatsApp’s capabilities in the country.

The partnership allows access to Uber’s mobility services by sending a message to a WhatsApp chatbot, serving the northern city of Lucknow to start and expanding to more locations in the near future, Uber said in a statement. It follows closely on the heels of WhatsApp rolling out in-app grocery shopping on JioMart, the digital outlet for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail empire. The Meta-owned messenger service has more than half a billion users in India, its largest single user base.