New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS): Uber on Wednesday announced the launch and expansion of the WhatsApp to Ride (WA2R) product feature for users in Delhi-NCR.

Through this integration, riders across Delhi NCR will be able to book an Uber ride via its official WhatsApp chatbot in Hindi, the company said in a statement.

Following a successful pilot in Lucknow in December last year, the Delhi NCR -- one of Uber's top cities globally by volume -- launch marks a superior and more intuitive product experience as well as multilingual capabilities in English and Hindi for enhanced user experience.

Built on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the partnership will expand access to Uber's mobility services to a new segment of consumers through integration in two languages.

The Lucknow Pilot revealed that the WA2R audience is younger than the average Uber App user with almost 50 per cent of them being less than 25 years old.

The fact that 33 per cent of the inbounds during this pilot were received from new users shows the potential of new user acquisition through this partnership.

"Encouraged by the positive response from our Lucknow pilot, we are excited to roll out the WhatsApp to Ride experience in Delhi NCR. Looking at the needs of the local market, the team also provided Hindi language support while booking a ride through WhatsApp. Making the booking process more interactive with the integration of buttons and go-to actions was one of our top priorities. Future product iterations of WA2R will allow existing users of the Uber app to also book trips through WhatsApp," said Manikandan Thangarathnam, Sr. Director, Mobility and Platforms, Uber, in the statement.

"Uber and businesses across sectors are leveraging the WhatsApp Business Platform to build a variety of scaled custom solutions that help advance customer convenience and enable richer customer engagement. We look forward to continuing building partnerships with businesses to help them unlock avenues of access to new audience cohorts who use WhatsApp extensively everyday," added Ravi Garg, Director, WhatsApp Partnerships, India.

WhatsApp users in Delhi NCR can book an Uber ride in three simple ways: messaging to Uber's business account number; scanning a QR code; or clicking a link directly to open an Uber WhatsApp chat.

They will then be asked to provide pickup and drop off locations, followed by upfront fare information and the drivera¿s expected time of arrival.

Riders get access to the same safety features and insurance protection as those who book trips via the Uber app directly.A Drivers on Uber's platform, however, will see no change in their experience with rides booked via WhatsApp.

The service is available to both new and existing users who registered with only a phone number on Uber, the company said.