Facebook “to roll out its own Uber rival”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Are Facebook planning to take on Uber? A patent from the social networking giant for "event-based ride-sharing" has appeared, which could put an end to worrying about how you're going to get to the numerous events you're invited to, Digital Spy said.

The new feature would allow you to see who is attending a particular event and exactly how they're getting there. If they happen to be driving themselves, you can get in touch with them to request a lift.

Similarly if you're driving to an event, you can indicate how many people you'd be willing to take along, and whether it's just your friends you want to take or anyone who needs a ride.

Before you start arranging your social life though, be aware that this is currently just an idea so keep that Uber app (pictured below) close to hand for now. But like Uber, if it gets launched, the service will see you get an message on your phone when your ride is coming.

"An indication that the first user intends to attend the event and a set of one or more users the first user is willing to take as passengers to the event are received. An indication that a second user of the network service intends to attend the event is also received," the patent reads.

"The first user is presented as a potential driver to the second user in response to receiving the indication that the second user intends to attend the event and determining the second user is within the set of one or more users."

This potential Uber-challenging feature follows Facebook's launch of Live Video in the US. Exclusive to iPhone currently, the Periscope-bothering service allows users to stream live video to their friends and share the footage on their Timeline.

Last week, the social networking giant also revealed that its profits had more than doubled in the final quarter of 2015 with a net profit of $1.56 billion, while their user base continued to surge with 1.59 billion active monthly users.