Uber: Transportation company turns its hand to yacht rides with UberYACHT

The UberYACHT follows on from the UberBOAT and the UberCHOPPER.

Story highlights

Uber launches UberYACHT this weekend in Dubai

Dubai residents can access deluxe yacht party using their app

Uber has offered boat rides and helicopter trips in the past

CNN  — 

A taxi ride is just a tap of an app away in the modern world, and now so is that yacht trip you’ve always dreamed of.

Uber, the online transportation network company, has already brought us cars, boats and helicopters to help with getting from A to B – now it’s turning its hand to luxury vessels.

UberYACHT launches in Dubai Saturday, allowing residents to access a deluxe yacht party through their Uber app.

$82 a ride

Food, drink, resident DJs and views of the city’s iconic shoreline come with the ride – at a cost of AED300 ($82) – for those who request their spot using the app 48 hours before the ship sets sail.

“At Uber we are constantly innovating our services. We want to be more than just a leading global technology app, we want to provide experiences at the push of a button,” Chris Free, Uber’s general manager in the United Arab Emirates, told CNN.

Uber, which was founded in 2009, has often dabbled outside the world of cars, offering boat rides across the Bosphorus in Istanbul (UberBOAT) and helicopter trips through California’s Coachella Valley (UberCHOPPER).

READ: A supercar fit for a superyacht

Transport, reinvented

“Following the success of UberCHOPPER in Dubai, we are thrilled to introduce UberYACHT to Dubai’s waters with this exclusive party that residents can book just as they would an Uber car or chopper, with the same level of convenience, reliability and accessibility,” Free added.

Uber offers its services in cities from Abilene, Texas, to Zagreb, Croatia, and in hundreds of communities in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and around Asia.

Data provider PrivCo reported last summer that Uber is the most valuable start-up company in the world at $51 billion, while officials estimate it provides three million rides a day.

Skirting controversy

Uber is no stranger to controversy, however, coming under fire earlier this year after the man responsible for the Kalamazoo shootings was alleged to be a driver for the American company.

It is due to pay up to $100 million in fees to settle legal suits brought by drivers who sought to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors.