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Uber Freight launches to give you Trucking services at the tap on your screen

by Felix Omondi

Uber is one multinational company hell bent on widening its business portfolio. For a company that began as a taxi-hailing app back in 2009, in its eight years running. It has certainly diversified its different industries.

Kicking off with taxi-hailing service, then diversifying into food delivery service (UberEATS), chopper rides hailing service (UberCHOPPER), boat rides hailing service (UberBOATS), and you can bet there some not yet mentioned here.

The latest addition to Uber portfolio is the trucking business with Uber Freight. Uber wants to disrupt how people transport goods, and how truckers get their jobs. It has emerged that the trucking industry is one of the biggest contributors to the economies of many countries. Uber has apparently looked at the challenges facing the industry and has come up with some improvements.

In the same fashion Uber connect taxi drivers with commuters. Now the company wants to connect truck drivers and/or trucking companies with people looking to transport their goods. The improvement being that the two parties can connect hassle-free; no more need for multiple phone calls to find a trucker, the trucker too can easily find a client on the Uber app.Uber Freight

It is said, one of the main challenges truckers find in their line of work is having to make multiple calls to secure a client in need of trucking services. With Uber Freight, there will be no more need for both the client and the trucker to make phone calls; the service will be an on-demand service. The client simply opens the app on their smartphone, specify the type of truck they want, select their pickup and destination and request for a truck.

Approved truckers will only need to open their Freight app, search for a client looking for trucking service and book it. A confirmation message will be sent once a client and a trucker are matched. Uber hopes this new line of business will build on its $650 million acquisition of Otto, the self-driving trucking company.

The Uber Freight service is currently available only in the United States (in Houston and Dallas) and is said to only concentrate on the ordinary trucks (not the autonomous, self-driving types). The truckers enrolled in the services must be vetted and certified to have trucks with the necessary equipment such as refrigerators.

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