Your 8-Year-Old Can Hail a Ride Uber-Style With This App San Francisco-based ridesharing company Shuddle today announced a new app that allows kids to order their own rides.
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Your 8-year-old can now take care of ordering his or her own ride Uber-style with a new app from the family-friendly ridesharing company Shuddle.
Today, the San Francisco-based company announced its kids version of the Shuddle app. Called ShuddleMe, children between the age of 8 and 16 can use the app to order a ride at least one hour ahead of when they want to be picked up. When the reservation is booked, both parents and children get a photo and bio of the driver and car description sent to their smartphones. Parents can watch the car with their kid driving along its route through the app thanks to GPS tracking technology.
Also, the drivers in the Shuddle network have to go through a "ShuddleScreen" verification process and have had some level of caregiving experience in the past.
Related: Busy Parents: Meet Shuddle, the Uber for Kids
The app is linked to the payment saved in the parent's primary Shuddle app, and they must give permission before putting the pedal to the metal. Besides ensuring kids don't go crazy and decide to take the car on a long road trip, the pre-ride authorization means kids getting ferried from swim practice to a birthday party never has to deal with carrying and sorting cash
The idea of having your kid order a car service with his or her smartphone and jetting off to band practice may sound crazy to some parents (understandably so) but Shuddle is hoping its safety precautions-- GPS, photos, bio information, to name a few -- will give anxious parents peace of mind.
Launched in October of 2014 by former Sidecar co-founder Nick Allen, Shuddle currently operates throughout the Bay Area.The monthly membership to be on Shuddle is $9 and the minimum price of each ride is $12 but depends on time and distance.
Related: Shuddle, the Ridesharing Service for Kiddos and Grandparents, Raises $10 Million