Uber is concentrating on food-delivery, nudges its drivers to do the same

Recently, ride-hailing drivers have been losing income as more people stay at home and less people travel due to the public health crisis. Uber has recently started concentrating more of its services on food delivery as demand for this is growing.

Now, Engadget reports that drivers in the US are encouraged to take on food delivery, even if they hadn’t participated in Uber Eats before. Last week, drivers were sent notifications with instructions on how to access the Delivery view on the app because of an increased demand for food-delivery services.

In particular, Uber is witnessing a growing number of requests for food delivery in Seattle and San Francisco. According to Uber Eats’ vice president, Pierre-Dimitri, the coronavirus outbreak is starting to affect routines and the changes benefit the food delivery business, so drivers are encouraged to focus on it.
In addition to that, Uber has been trying to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus on drivers and recently, Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, asked Uber’s drivers and delivery workers to be included in the coronavirus stimulus package, that would make people eligible to receive insurance and up to $1,200 direct deposit from the US government.