Uber has begun piloting teenager-focused Uber pilots in India to teenage services. TechCrunch is an exclusive learning experience.
Uber for Teens lives in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai. Uber checked with TechCrunch. The company said it will expand its services to 35 cities, including Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune in the coming weeks.
The service allows parents and guardians to set up accounts for teenagers (ages 13 to 17) so they can request travel directly using their devices. It also includes features such as live trip tracking and opt-in audio recording.
Guardians can also book rides for teenagers. You can also set monthly travel restrictions to limit the number of trips you travel. Uber is requesting that Indian Guardians add credit or debit cards to their accounts to invite teenagers to their family profiles. Once added, Guardians and teens can book rides using payment methods, including cash.
Teens can also take riders between 13 and 17 years old, according to the details available on the support page, but it is not clear how the consent mechanism for this works.
Uber said it will perform additional background checks on the driver.
The move comes almost two years after service began in the US and Canada as the ride app plans to grow in India and play against domestic rivals Ola, Rapido, Namma Yatri and Blusmart.
Uber For Teens currently lives in around 50 countries, according to the company's fourth quarter results last month. The company has also implemented individual profiles for teenagers in some markets, allowing payments using its own payment methods and cash.
Over the past few months, Uber has added several features such as simultaneous riding, flexible pricing and prepaid item picking to meet the changing transport needs of Indians. The company recently threw away fees for booking auto rickshaws and instead enacted a daily subscription fee.