The next big ride-hailing boom is finally here: the ride-sharing companies Uber and Alphabet’s Lyft are officially joining forces to offer rides to consumers in the U.K. and U.A.E. in a way that’s completely different from what most U.s. transportation services offer.
Uber and its competitors are the ones that already offer car-hail services, but Uber has been trying to figure out how to make it as a transportation service that’s a lot like a taxi company.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told the BBC that the ride services will offer a different approach to providing a service that consumers want than taxis do.
Lyft is trying to make Uber the dominant ride-share service in the world, but in a sense that means they’re competing with each other, Kalanik said.
He said that Uber’s strategy is to “be the king of the ride.”
“We’re a lot closer to a taxi than Uber,” he said.
In addition to the U, Uber will expand to more than a dozen other countries by the end of the year, including Mexico and the U
