Google Assistant can now book a ride for you from ridesharing companies such as Uber or Lyft. The new capability started rolling out yesterday and we can confirm it works in Canada.
If you have the Google Assistant app on iPhone, or a Google Home or any speaker which supports Assistant, you can now book a ride by saying something like, “Hey Google, book a ride to the Bluebird Cafe” or “Hey Google, get me a taxi to Denver International Airport,” the company explains in a blog post.
Results from Google Assistant on iPhone will show more information, such as pricing, ride options and wait times from the service you requested. Below is an example of results when asking for a ride from downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport (I chose Toronto because it was the first city that came to mind that supports ridesharing, since B.C. is still living in the Stone Age):
If you tap on a result, it’ll launch the respective app if you have it installed on your iPhone, to finalize your booking, as Assistant can’t exactly do that last step yet.
Apple’s Siri can similarly book rides for you as well with Uber and Lyft, but this method with Google Assistant shows a summary of pricing and how far away cars are. You can also see Uber cars in real-time as well in Google Maps.
Google says this feature for Assistant is launching first in English and should be available where ridesharing partners are operating. More languages will be supported “in the coming months.”
The company concludes, “If you’re in a hurry and your hands are all tied up, you’ll now be able to use the Assistant to see all your favorite ride services in one place and pick the one that works best for you.”
