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Uber launches uberCOMMUTE, a carpooling service, in China

Xinhua, September 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Uber, the U.S. ridesharing firm, has launched a new carpooling product, uberCOMMUTE, in Chengdu, as the company shifts up a gear in its race to win the Chinese market, the company announced Wednesday.

uberCOMMUTE has been designed for white-collar workers who commute long distances every day, by offering them the opportunity to split the cost of their journeys.

This is the first time Uber has launched a new global product outside the United States "because of the tremendous appetite amongst Chinese drivers and riders for creative new ways to get from A to B, affordably and reliably," according a blog post on the company's website.

Drivers can use the Uber app to define their destination, and then they will be matched with people headed in the same direction, it said.

There were 117 million cars in China by 2014, 90 percent were private cars, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Ridesharing may go some way to alleviating congestion and aid environment protection efforts.

Liu Zhen, Uber China's head of strategy, said in a statement that the new service shows how important the Chinese market is to Uber.

Uber plans to gradually roll out uberCOMMUTE across the globe.

Since setting up shop in China in 2014, Uber cars is now available in 21 cities. Chinese ridesharing company Didi Kuaidi, its local rival, launched a carpooling service called Shun Feng Che in June. Endi