Uber Rolling Out On-Demand Ice Cream Trucks

Posted on News | July 13, 2012 by compunet

Uber is offering up its own take on the food truck craze. The taxi service on Friday will launch an on-demand ice cream truck in seven cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Uber Ice Cream, kicking of July 13 in honor of National Ice Cream Month, will be available in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington D.C.

To access, select the ice cream cone icon within the Uber app. Tell the app where you want the ice cream truck to stop and tap “Request ice cream delivery here.” The app will then tell you when you can expect the truck to arrive, and it will bring five ice creams for $12, though you can order more once it gets there. Uber will bill the credit card it has on file within the app.

What type of ice cream? “Each city is working with a variety of local ice cream trucks so the ice cream will vary, but trust us, it’s all gooooooood,” Uber said in a blog post.

The company has a few more details about when and where the Uber ice cream truck will be in various cities on its blog. In New York, for example, the truck will be driving throughout Manhattan between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. with ice cream from Van Leeuwen Artisan and Coolhaus. There will be trucks on the road in San Francisco, meanwhile, from noon to 6 p.m. with treats from Garden Creamery, Aunt LaLi, Twisted Chill, and Molly Moo.

“If your request doesn’t go through, keep trying! There’s plenty of ice cream to go around,” Uber said.

When it’s not delivering ice cream, Uber’s main business model is an on-demand taxi service. Using the company’s Android and iOS apps, users can tell Uber where they are and have a car sent to their location. Rides are charged to a user’s credit card, tip included, so no need to deal with cash.

Uber is currently available in Boston, Chicago, the Hamptons, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C.

The future of the service in Washington, D.C. came into question recently, however, when the D.C. City Council proposed an amendment that would require any service that competed with the city’s existing taxi fleet to charge at least five times more than a D.C. taxi. Offering a lower price would be illegal.

The uproar over the proposal resulted in the DC Council striking down the minimum fare language for the Uber Amendment. But as Uber noted in a Monday blog post, the fight is not over. “The bill that was passed today will be reviewed again by the Council in late September and we’ll need our full army ready to help us again.”

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.