Google Assistant can now help book rides from Uber, Lyft, and others

Chances are, you’ve paid more than you needed to for a ride because you didn’t feel like manually comparing the rates of all your options. Today, Google announced it’s got a way to ameliorate such situations: the Google Assistant will soon be able to provide you a handy list of ride providers going to your destination, along with time estimates and pricing information.

When you ask Google to book a ride, it’ll show you a list of different taxi services, such as Uber and Lyft, as well as how far away each is and how much they’ll cost. (If you ask a device without a screen, like a Google Home, it’ll send the list to your phone.) You can also restrict your request to just rides from a specific service. Tapping a result will open the corresponding app so you can complete your booking.

The functionality isn’t live for everyone just yet; the Assistant just turns up web search results when I ask for a ride to the airport. Google says the functionality will roll out first in English to countries where compatible services are available, with more language support to come.

Leave a Reply