Uber is adding a parking reservation option directly within its app.
The rollout of Uber Parking, announced on Monday, comes after the ride-hailing platform’s acquisition of SpotHero earlier this year. Now, you can reserve a parking spot from the Uber app homepage, alongside existing options to book a ride, rent a car or order a meal.
Uber says its acquisition of SpotHero is bringing more than 13,000 garages, lots and valet options across more than 400 cities onto Uber’s platform. The SpotHero brand and app won’t go away, though customers might see branding for SpotHero by Uber on garage signage, for example.
At launch, Uber Parking is available in 15 cities, including Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, DC.
“Our mission is to help people get around, and this seemed like a very natural thing for us to solve, given how painful parking is today,” Amit Fulay, vice president of product at Uber, said in an interview. “If we can bring that ease that we have for rides into the app, it fits with helping people move. It felt like a very natural extension.”
Uber One members will get 10% back in credits on eligible completed parking reservations, which they can use on future rides and Uber Eats orders. (Uber One costs $10 per month.)
How to book with Uber Parking
To reserve a spot with Uber Parking, open the Uber app and tap the new Parking icon on the home screen. Enter your destination, and choose a date and time. You’ll then be able to see available nearby parking options via an interactive map, which will show pricing upfront.
You can filter for options like self-parking or valet, as well as a garage or surface lot. You can also select amenities such as on-site staff or re-entry capability.
Fill out your vehicle information, including make, model and license plate number. As with booking a ride, you’ll be able to pay using a payment method in your Uber Wallet.
You’ll then be able to access your “Parking pass” in the Uber app. Depending on where you park, you’ll either scan a QR code or use license plate recognition to get in. You can extend your reservation in the app if you end up staying longer than expected.
Uber says that with most parking options, you can cancel your booking for free before the start time.
Over the coming weeks and months, Uber Parking will expand from 15 launch cities to over 400 across the US and Canada, according to the company.
Uber’s larger vision
Uber Parking is the latest example of how the ride-hailing company aims to be known for much more than just that. Uber now has options for everything from car and bike rentals to hotel reservations to food delivery through Uber Eats. The addition of Uber Parking gives people another reason to open the app and, importantly, give more of their dollars to Uber.
The Uber One subscription service is another way the company has worked to entice customers. It includes no delivery fee on food and grocery orders, 5% back on rides and 10% back on hotel bookings, among other perks. Uber says it has over 55 million Uber One members across 47 countries.
Uber’s new parking venture feeds into another area the company is heavily investing in: autonomous vehicles. With more than 30 AV partners, Uber says it plans to “explore leveraging parking spots as staging and waiting locations for AVs, which can reduce deadheading, congestion and vehicle wear while improving fleet efficiency.”
Fulay notes that this network can also be useful for delivery drivers working in areas where parking is difficult to find, or for those with downtime who need a convenient place to stop for a while in dense urban areas.
“Once we have this infrastructure, those are the next set of things we’ll look to explore,” Fulay said.
Ultimately, offering a service within an app consumers likely already have on their phones could make them more inclined to stick with a single company. Uber appears to be betting on just that.
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