Google Assistant Gets the Ability to Book Cabs From Uber, Ola

Google Assistant on your Android or iOS phone will now be able to help you book a taxi via Uber or Ola in India with a simple voice command. This feature has been present with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant for a while and Google is finally bringing to more users in the country.

This ensures that you don’t need to open the cab-hailing app to book a ride anymore. The feature is accessible via any Android smartphone which supports Google Assistant.

The feature is also available on the iPhone along with most of the smart speakers that get built-in support for Google Assistant. Google clarified that the feature will be available first in English and any country where one of Google’s supported ride service partners operate. In this case Ola and Uber.

For this feature to work, users should have the Ola or Uber app installed on their devices. For smart speakers, they need to link the Ola or Uber skill/action to their Google Home app on the mobile. To book a cab, you can use command words like “Hey Google, book a ride to the Bluebird Cafe” or “Hey Google, get me a taxi to Indira Gandhi International Airport.” This will help users with a list of Ola and Uber cabs available in your locality.

It will also point out the fares that you’ll have to pay for travelling from point A to point B and how much waiting time is expected for the cab to connect with you.

With Google expected to launch a screen-laden Google Assistant speaker called the Google Home Hub, these features are likely to trickle down to more products and markets in the coming months.

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