- Uber’s intention is to add new options to accompany the user throughout the day, with all kinds of mobility solutions;
- On the other hand, the new category also causes Uber to go head-to-head with other apps that already included taxis in the country, such as Cabify and 99.
Uber announced this Thursday (30) the debut of a new category in Brazil, more specifically in the city of Sao Paulo: Uber Taxi. The novelty, according to the company, will help strengthen the platform’s relationship with corporate customers.
“Uber Taxi is a recurring request from our corporate customers, who would like to be able to use this service with tools like real-time travel sharing and other app security features,” said Claudia Woods, general manager of Uber in Brazil, in the press release published by the company.
Taxi drivers accredited by the City of Sao Paulo will be able to download the Uber app for partners and start registering on the platform starting next week. The expectation is that the modality will be available to users in São Paulo in August.
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According to the company, São Paulo will be the second city in Latin America to launch the Uber Taxi. The first was Santiago, Chile, last month. Worldwide, Uber has been offering the category for more than five years, now available in 22 countries.
Uber’s intention is to add new options to accompany the user throughout the day, with all kinds of mobility solutions. In São Paulo, the app already displays, for example, information about bus lines, subways, and trains.
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Also recently, it started offering the Uber Flash category, for sending objects and documents, and officially began the partnership with Cornershop, a grocery shopping startup.
Competitors
On the other hand, the new category also causes Uber to go head-to-head with other apps that already included taxis, such as Cabify and 99. The latter was a pioneer in Brazil working precisely with these professionals, under the name 99Taxis. Only later, shortly before becoming a unicorn when acquired by Chinese Didi, did 99 open up to self-employed drivers and began a strong diversification of its services.
The opening of Uber to taxi drivers five years after its arrival in Brazil is also somewhat ironic since it was precisely the category that rated the app as illegal right from the start.
In May last year, the Brazilian Supreme Court put an end to the controversy over the regulation of the activity. It defined that the municipalities cannot go against the federal law that regulated the ride-sharing applications and that any prohibition or restriction to the applications is unconstitutional in the country.
