Ride-hailing app UCAR announced on Wednesday that it released a ride-hailing service for pregnant women, the first tailored car service for pregnant women in China.
UCAR said it will ensure the security of pregnant women using the service through strict standards for vehicles and drivers, pregnancy-related services and safety measures.
All the vehicles UCAR will provide for pregnant women will be medium-and high-end cars valued above RMB 150,000 (USD 23,000). Drivers must have more than three years of driving experience and know basic medical treatments pertaining to pregnant women. Additionally, UCAR requires that the driving speed will not exceed 60 km/h, and the temperature inside the car should be 22℃.
“Pregnant women are a special group. When they go out, their safety should be guaranteed. That’s why UCAR is releasing this service,” said Wang Peiqiang, CEO of UCAR.
UCAR is also exploiting a market opportunity. It predicts the number of pregnant women in China will increase to 28 million in 2016 due to the implementation of the universal two-child policy. There is currently no private-car service for this group of people in China.
In January 2015, UCAR was launched in 60 cities by auto rental company CAR Inc. targeting the business-car-hailing sector.
According to Analysys International, Didi Kuaidi led China’s private car-hailing market with 83.2% market share for Q3 2015, with rival Uber trailing at 16.2% and UCAR with 13.4% by last October.
（Top photo from Baidu Images）