Picture: Uber car delivering food
Uber has created a “personal sticker” version of its delivery platform to help the UN deliver emergency meals and water to war-torn areas in Ukraine.
The technology company is working with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Structural damage and the risk of attack make it difficult for heavy trucks to reach parts of Ukraine.
The Uber platform allows WFPs to coordinate small fleets. The World Food Program (WFP) chooses its own drivers and vehicles, but some are former Uber drivers who worked in Ukraine before the Russian occupation.
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Uber President Dara Khosrowshahi said her company offered “its own Uber brand” to the World Food Program (WFP). This is a custom version of the commercially available Uber Direct delivery platform. Big names like Apple and Tesco. Companies usually pay for Uber services, but WFP is not charged. The software can be used to coordinate logistics and track deliveries and drivers within 100 kilometers of a warehouse.
The plan is being tested in the center of the city of Dnieper. It will be distributed later in 4 more cities: Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv and Chernivtsi.
There are many relief organizations working to provide emergency assistance to those in need, including the Red Cross, the International Committee for Rescue and Save the Children. The Uber platform was launched a few weeks after their first contact with the World Food Program.
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“People can’t wait a month for food to be delivered,” said David Beasley, WFP’s director. “People need food right away.” “We can’t survive without food for weeks. So using Uber technology, their distribution system and their transportation system is a really big success story. ”
Uber had some hard years. During the pandemic, car-sharing services were severely affected when people were at home, and companies were forced to reform drivers’ policies to provide them with better employment rights. However, the transition to delivery was successful. When Khosrowshahi first took over as CEO in 2017, Uber says delivery was still in its infancy, but is now poised to become the company’s largest service.
By 2021, 96% of Uber’s delivery orders will be restaurant meals. It was also the first year in which the 13-year-old company made a profit.
“In the end, I think the delivery could be higher, because it’s not just about food. This is food and will allow any local merchant to overtake Amazon, ”said Khosrowshahi.
“If Amazon can deliver the next day, local merchants can deliver in an hour or two. People want to send everything as soon as possible, and we can see the wave. “