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Uber
began offering scheduled rides in June in Seattle, targeted
particularly at business customers.
Earlier this year, the San Francisco-based app avoided having a
mandatory waiting time of five minutes imposed upon it and other
private hire car firms in London as part of proposals by
transport bosses to regulate the sector.
Advance booking will be introduced from Thursday and available
within two weeks to all two million Uber users in London, who
will be able to book journeys from 15 minutes to 30 days before
they travel.
"Many of our riders, especially business customers, have asked
us to introduce this feature and we're really excited to bring
it to Londoners," the firm's London General Manager Tom Elvidge
said.
Rapidly expanding tech start-ups such as Uber have faced
opposition from some unions and longer-established competitors
around the world, including in London where drivers of
traditional black cabs have held a series of protests.
Allowing advance bookings would allow Uber, whose investors
include GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, and Goldman
Sachs, to further compete with established cab firms and some
other apps.
Uber recently launched legal action in London against new rules
such as written English tests for its drivers in one of the
latest battles between regulators and the app.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Giles Elgood)
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