You might ride alongside someone else’s groceries next time you use Sidecar. The ridesharing startup announced on Monday it will roll out same-day deliveries nationwide with a new service called Sidecar Deliveries.
With this service at least, Sidecar has finally found a way to nudge ahead of its competitors, namely Uber and Lyft. In a company blog post, Sidecar flouts accomplishments from its six-month beta test of the program in San Francisco: Delivery time is cut in half with Sidecar and its drivers earn 75 percent more by riding with a passenger and a delivery.
The company hopes that deliveries will comprise half of its business by the end of the year, while riders can expect to see lower prices and reduced wait times due to the company's new double service. However, considering Sidecar has a low driver base and is now competing with Amazon, Google Express, Instacart, and a variety of other startups that aim to deliver goods, only time will tell if it can succeed in this crowded market.
Sidecar reports that delivery already accounts for 10 percent of its rides in San Francisco. The company has partnered with EAT24 to test deliveries. It currently only operates in 10 US cities, so if you’re not in those places, you’ll just have to use one of the many other services or, ya know, get your stuff yourself.
The real question is, will Sidecar start delivering kittens like Uber does?
H/t San Francisco Business Times. Top photo courtesy of Thinkstock.
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