Uber Has Introduced a Guest Rider Feature, Here’s How It Works

If you’re sick and tired of ordering an Uber for your mate whose phone is dead or for a family member who doesn’t know what the internet is then finally there is a solution. Uber has introduced Guest Rider, which allows you to easily order an Uber for a pal from your account but without all the fuss of being the point person.

Allow us to explain how this will work.

Uber Guest Rider: How does it work?

Ordering an Uber for someone else from your account is nothing new, but this is an official formalisation of the feature by Uber that should streamline the whole process.

It allows Uber to send your guest all the details needed for their ride – such as the car model, location and contact details of the driver – and then allows the driver and passenger to contact each other directly, rather than going through the person who has booked the ride.

It’s a particularly useful feature for those without a smartphone or for anyone wanting to call someone a ride without physically being present with them.

Here’s how it works. Once the Uber account holder makes a booking on behalf of their guest rider, that rider will receive an SMS with trip details like the driver’s name, estimated time of arrival, license plate and vehicle make and model. The guest will be able to contact their driver either through text or anonymous phone calls, even if they do not have the Uber app on their device.

On the driver’s side, once the trip has been accepted they will be able to see whether the trip is made from an Uber account or on behalf of a guest.

Got all that? Great. Here’s how you can go ahead and book an Uber for a guest.

1. Simply tap “Where to?”, then choose who’s riding on the top of the screen.
2. Select the guest rider directly from your address book.
3. The guest rider will receive an SMS text message with important trip details like ETA, vehicle make and type, and the driver-partner’s contact information, enabling them to coordinate with the driver-partner directly should they need to get in touch.
4. To ensure the guest rider gets on the right vehicle safely, a PIN verification will be triggered if the guest rider and driver-partner’s geographic locations are too far from each other.
5. Enjoy the ride!

The Guest Rider feature is now available in Australia and New Zealand as well as over 30 countries around the world. If you don’t see the option make sure you’ve updated the Uber app to the latest version.

While you’re here, check out some of the other features Uber has added recently.