'Uber for business' launches today, could cut down on receipt collecting for road warriors

Until now the shared-car service Uber has focused on giving rides to civilian consumers. But it turns out that people have been using Uber for work travel, too.

Uber for Business lets employees bill their Uber trips directly to their company. A centralized billing system sends trip details back to people or departments at the company, so the employee doesn’t have to collect receipts.

This could put another small nail into the coffins of traditional taxi services that still rely on paper receipts.

For employees who already have Uber accounts, an option to join a work account pops up on their private account, Uber says. Uber says users will be able to easily toggle between their work and personal payment options, which means business travel is automatically expensed and personal trips stay personal.

This fall, Uber says, American Express corporate cardholders participating in its membership rewards programs in the U.S. can earn double rewards points for rides, or they can use points to pay for Uber rides.

Uber is also launching a new partnership with the expense-management platform Concur, which will let Concur users link their Uber and Concur accounts. Once the user links the Uber and Concur accounts, Uber sends expense-ready travel information, including an e-receipt, into Concur.

Tesla Motors has already been piloting Uber for Business to offer customers free rides while their Tesla vehicles are being serviced.

Uber has definitely been in partner mode lately. The company is said to be in talks with Facebook to integrate its service into Facebook’s Messenger app.