Uber commute is next frontier, says founder Travis Kalanick

By Marie Mawad
Amid resistance from European lawmakers, Uber Technologies' founder Travis Kalanick called on local regulators to promote the financial incentives car owners could benefit from if they were to pick up a neighbour and share their ride to work.

"We can turn every car into a shared car - the next frontier is the Uber commute," Kalanick said at a conference in Brussels.

"Is there a way that someone could pick up a neighbour on the way to work? We have the technology for it, but there are also regulatory frameworks we have to work with. Why can't these folks get a little more incentive?" Kalanick said he met with regulators at the European Commission to talk about how cities can solve problems like traffic, parking, and having too many cars on the roads.

"We're making our case but also learning what it's going to take to bring our kind of innovation to many cities here in Europe," Kalanick said.

Thousands of people are car-pooling with Uber Pool in San Francisco and 19 cities in China, Kalanick said.

"Imagine if the 3,00,000 Brussels citizens driving into work this morning could pick somebody up and make a small profit from doing it," Kalanick said.

"More people would carpool, we'd have less congestion, the air would be less polluted, we'd all live in a better place. The city doesn't even have to use taxes to make it happen."