Is Uber adding 'Walking Buddy' feature for safe riding?

A post claiming Uber to introduce a new feature in their services.

The screenshot depicts different Uber riding options, with "walking buddy" listed at the bottom.

Now you must be thinking it is shared out of fun but some of us seem to have taken it a bit seriously. "This is going to make huge money just from all the college girls who don't feel safe walking home alone at night," said one user.

A similar post can be seen here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter ran a keyword search and found a quote provided by Uber Official on Reuters.

"Satire. An Uber spokesperson confirmed that the screenshot is not real, and Uber has not added walking buddies to their services," says an Uber official.

Moreover, we scrolled through the ride options on the official Uber website and found that it hasn't launched a ''Walking Buddy'' option.

A media report in Hindustan Times also confirms this back in 2020. "'Well, a closer look at the picture reveals that the location in the photo is LaGuardia Airport, which is situated in New York City. A quick search on Uber's website for car types available in the area revealed that it has no option called walking buddy," it reads.

Lastly, we found a perfect answer to our question in Free Press Journal.

This isn't the first time that such a trend has emerged on social media. Two years ago, Twitterati suggested the same case. The company had then provided a hilariously quirky reply. Uber tweeted in 2020, "Gotta get those steps in."

The viral images about the 'walking buddy' feature are old as well as fake.

Hence, the claim is false.