Uber’s New Moving Service in Hong Kong Is No Mere Stunt

Uber

Uber has proven many times over that it’s good for more than just ride-hailing. In the past, the app has acted as a Christmas tree delivery service, an ice cream truck-hailing app, an on-demand kitten-cuddling business, and, when San Francisco legalized gay marriage last summer, a full-fledged wedding planner. These were all marketing stunts, sure. But they proved how nimble (sometimes bizarrely so) Uber’s business model is.

Now, the company is using these skills for a more practical purpose.

With the flip of a switch, Uber can mutate into whatever type of transportation system it chooses.

On Wednesday, Uber announced the launch of UberCargo, a moving service currently being tested in Hong Kong. Similar to UberMovers, a service Uber offered college students last August to help them move out of their dorm rooms, UberCargo lets people hail a van, load it with their stuff, and cart it across town. They’re not even required to ride along with it.

The news in and of itself isn’t groundbreaking, except that it provides one compelling example of Uber’s ambitions to be a full-fledged logistics company. Uber’s $40 billion valuation makes it more valuable than the entire U.S. taxi and limousine industry. That’s largely due to the fact that, with the flip of a switch, Uber can mutate into whatever type of transportation system it chooses. Its vast network of drivers and the technology that supports them are extremely flexible, and projects like UberCargo prove as much.

While Uber mostly showcases that fact with hair-brained antics, this isn’t the first time Uber has tested a viable business model outside of ride-hailing. UberFRESH, which is currently operating only in Los Angeles, competes with services like SeamlessWeb and Delivery.com in the food delivery space. UberRUSH, operating only in New York City, is a courier service for shuttling small deliveries around town. And this summer, Uber even took on tech giants like Amazon and Google with the launch of Uber Corner Store, a service that promises delivery of staple items from local stores in 10 minutes or less.

In a blog post on UberCargo, Uber called the project an “Uber Everything experiment focused on making every day city living easier so you have more time to do what matter most.” Each of these small scale tests—yes, even the wacky ones—gives Uber a better idea of whether consumers actually want to use Uber for all of their needs. As Uber continues to expand, even in the face of so much regulatory backlash, is seems all signs point to yes.