Uber will now recommend places it can take you with Uber Explore

Uber Explore Screenshots (Image credit: Uber)

What you need to know

Uber has announced Uber Explore for people who need ideas for where to go.
Uber Explore will show people places they can visit and then have an Uber car take them.
14 cities in the United States and one in Mexico are live on day one.

Uber has announced Uber Explore, a new feature that will help people find new places to go and events to visit for those times when they just can't decide what to do themselves.

The new Uber Explore feature will start in 14 cities across the United States (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis – St. Paul, New Orleans, New Jersey, Upstate New York, Orlando, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle) as well as Mexico City to begin, but more will come online eventually. People in those countries should check the Uber app in the App Store to see if an update is required.

Uber says that people will be able to find places to go "based on categories including food & drink, art & culture, nightlife, music & shows, and more, and they'll be able to see reviews, photos, and directions." They'll also be able to take advantage of a few features as part of Uber Explore.

One click rides: The "ride there now" functionality allows customers to tap a button and easily book a ride with their pre-populated destination.
Personalization: You'll see suggestions for experiences based on your past use of the Uber and Uber Eats apps. We use your favorite places to go and things to eat to suggest the best places to explore in your city automatically.
Uber Explore Offers: We've selected some of the best places to explore, and for the top restaurants & bars, you'll get 15% off your rides up to $10 for now. The deals will always be changing based on what's popular in your area.
Seamless purchases: It will be easy to purchase tickets to events and experiences because you can pay conveniently with your Uber Wallet & Payment profile.

Uber isn't saying which cities will be next or how quickly the expansion will reach other countries, unfortunately.

Don't yet have Uber installed? You can grab it from the App Store for free now.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.