Uber is continuing to offer Australians an alternative to private car ownership by acquiring peer-to-peer car-sharing platform Car Next Door, giving riders a new option for trips less suited to ride-sharing.
On 20 January 2022, Uber announced that it has acquired Car Next Door, an Australian company first launched in Sydney in 2012 that offers convenient access to cars for renters, while providing revenue to car owners. The peer-to-peer car-sharing platform makes it easy to turn any car into a shared car.
By adding Car Next Door to its suite of products, Uber hopes to offer Australians with an affordable and convenient alternative to private car ownership, as it would give riders a reliable option for trips that are less suited to ride-sharing, such as running errands at the store or a day trip away. The service operates Australia-wide, with vehicles listed in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Hobart, Launceston and Newcastle.
This deal builds on Uber’s ongoing investments in electric vehicles, micro-mobility and public transport to reduce over-reliance on the private vehicle and to help to achieve greener, more liveable cities.
Join us at Transport Innovation Summit, the leading platform to discuss the evolution in public transport from 6-8 April 2022
View the agenda for Intelligent Transport’s three-day annual public transport online summit now – which addresses how innovations in ticketing and payments, DRT and MaaS, among other things, is driving the next-stage evolution in public transport – and join senior-level speakers from public transport authorities, agencies and operators, as well as leading solution providers, from around the world.
After acquisition, Car Next Door will report into Uber’s Australian team, but will otherwise operate independently, with its existing leadership team remaining focused on building and scaling their technology in more cities across Australia.
Dom Taylor, General Manager of Uber Australia and New Zealand, said: “This year marks 10 years since both Uber and Car Next Door launched in Australia. A lot has changed in that time, but one thing has stayed constant: a shared vision that we need to make transport not just safe, convenient and affordable – but also sustainable. Over the last decade, Uber has created shared rides options like Uber Pool, invested $800 million globally to drive electric vehicle uptake, and integrated micro-mobility and public transport options into the Uber app.”
Will Davies, CEO and Co-Founder of Car Next Door, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Car Next Door to achieve our mission of ‘freeing people and the planet from the one person, one car mentality’ years before we otherwise could have. By working with Uber, we can scale up our ambitions and look to move Australians away from the over-reliance on the private car, which is damaging our planet and making our cities less liveable.”
BECOME A MEMBER TODAY (IT’S FREE)
Join thousands of industry professionals and claim your FREE membership, giving you access to:
- Quarterly issues in print and/or digital format
- Case studies, whitepapers, webinars and industry-leading content
- Breaking news and features
- Our extensive online archive of articles and past issues
