Uber's latest lets businesses pay for client rides

SAN FRANCISCO — In an effort to broaden its commercial reach, Uber announced Thursday a new feature that allows businesses to order and pay for client rides even if customers don't have the Uber app on their phone.

Dubbed UberCentral, the tablet- and PC-based platform has been tested over the past few months at two dozen department stores, hotels and medical facilities, all enterprises that may want to provide rides to customers as a perk or service. There is also an option to charge the ride to a customer's account with the business.

Bloomingdale's made use of the service to bring shoppers in for sales events, Democratic party officials used it to get delegates around Philadelphia for the convention and senior centers leveraged it to untether their  visitors from rigid shuttle bus schedules.

"We knew the demand was out there, because some businesses were finding really creative ways to use the Uber app to book rides for customers," UberCentral design leader Russell Wilkins told USA TODAY during a demo at the company's headquarters here. "The challenges we faced, however, involved building a new platform aimed at people who potentially have no smartphone and aren't tech savvy."

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Available initially in the U.S. and Canada, UberCentral is slated to roll out to many of the ride-hailing juggernaut's 76 global markets. UberCentral differs from the company's existing Uber for Business service in that it is aimed at booking rides for people who do not work at the client company.

UberCentral represents yet another way in which the company is seeking ways to grow revenue. Recent innovations have included a partnership with Facebook to make it easy to order Uber rides from within the Messenger app, as well as UberEats, a service that delivers food.

Although privately held Uber boasts a $66 billion valuation — $16 billion more than General Motors — some investors are skeptical about the profitability of its core business. There is concern that offering discounts in markets such as China, where Uber is battling Didi Kuaidi, will hinder Uber's ability to make money . And the company also has been allocating resources to a burgeoning self-driving car team.

For the moment, Uber can continue to use its $12.5-billion nest egg to find new ways to spread the Uber word. That seems especially critical given a recent Pew Research study found that a 33% of Americans had never heard of either Uber or rival Lyft, and 51% knew the companies but had never used them.

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Enter UberCentral, which has the potential to bring Uber new users leveraging partners already trusted by the consumer.

Once an UberCentral account is set up, company employees can access a full-screen tablet-or-PC dashboard that lists all past and present rides. When a new ride is requested, detailed messages can be sent to each driver, ranging from location details to client information. "We felt that was particularly important when providing rides to seniors," says Wilkins.

Because a smartphone isn't required to use UberCentral, text messages are sent to clients with ride details and a link to a map showing the location of the driver. Company managers doing the booking can keep track of multiple rides and billing details from one central screen. Once a ride is finished, it simply shows up as "Completed."

At present, there is no map available to company car bookers that displays the Uber ride en route to its destination.

"Our research showed that they didn't really need to see that, they just wanted to be told when the ride was over," says Wilkins, who adds that as companies large and small start to use UberCentral, "we're likely to learn a whole lot more about how people want to use this service."

Follow USA TODAY reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter: @marcodellacava