Uber rolls out its first electric scooters

Uber's first electric scooters are out on the streets of Santa Monica, California. While electric scooters have been approved by the city and other companies have already started rolling out their models since last year in other states of the US, Uber;s dockless devices arrives earlier this week in Santa Monica.

Manufactured by Ninebot, the parent company of Segway, these scooters are available to reserve through Uber's app and cost USD 1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute to ride, which is chargeable after the first five minutes.

As The Verge reports, getting your hands on these scooters isn't easy because if you don't park these in their designated areas after the ride, you will be liable to pay a fine of USD 25. Uber is also offering 'scooter swaps' which allows customers to reserve for a closer device while walking to their reserved scooter from the designated area. 

Recently in India, ride hailing app Uber said its top executives met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and showcased its futuristic aerial taxi service under Uber Elevate.

Eric Allison, Head of Aviation Programs, Uber and Nikhil Goel, Head of Product, Aviation met the PM, on the sidelines of Global Mobility Summit MOVE, and discussed how a multi-modal mobility platform can contribute to the economy, while helping reduce pollution and congestion, Uber said in a statement.

Uber is considering India among five global locations (like Japan and France) for its futuristic aerial taxi service and is in talks with regulators in the country to gauge the modalities and constraints of offering such a service that could be launched in the next five years.

Uber has already named Dallas and Los Angeles as its first two launch cities in the US and has been on the prowl to select an international city as its third partner. Allison has already stated that the company is looking at large Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru as potential candidates.

With inputs from ANI