Uber, the on-demand ride-hailing service, today announced a new group feature called Family Profiles, allowing up to 10 people can sign into the same account, which is covered by a single payment method.
Currently, the feature is available in Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix, but Uber eventually hopes to expand the service nationally and internationally, the company said in a statement.
It’s the latest move by the popular ride-hailing app to expand its appeal in the face of competition from Lyft and other startups, as well as traditional taxis.
Every person on a Family Profile must first have an individual Uber account to join. Since Uber doesn’t serve minors, that means that all the users on Family Profiles must be over 18. In other words, parents can pay for their college-age kids to get rides around campus, but they can’t pay for their middle school children to take Uber to a dance.
The feature works like this: An Uber user selects up to 10 contacts to receive an invitation to join the Family Profile. Then, when any of those people want to order a ride, they can select the Family Profile as their default payment method. The original organizer gets receipts for all rides billed to the Family Profile. Though everyone on the group plan can use one payment method, only the original organizer can see specific payment details like credit card number.
And there’s good news for college students who don’t want mom and dad always knowing where they’re Ubering: as members of a Family Profile, users can still add their own payment methods for personal trips. Those trips won’t be billed to the main family card, and receipts for their trips will be sent to their personal accounts.
Uber’s new family plan builds upon its existing group payment plan, Uber For Business, designed for employees who want to expense their trips.
