UberRush On-Demand Delivery Service Is Shutting Down

TechCrunch reports that Uber recently sent an email to users saying the service, which currently operates in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco, would end June 30. The company will focus on its UberEats food-delivery service henceforth.

"At Uber, we believe in making bold bets, and while ending UberRush comes with some sadness, we will continue our mission of building reliable technology that serves people and cities all over the world," UberRush's New York City team said in an email to users. An Uber spokesperson confirmed the end of UberRush in a statement to TechCrunch.

"We're winding down UberRush deliveries and ending services by the end of June," the spokesperson said, adding that Uber will apply "a lot of the lessons we learned together" to UberEats. 

UberRush allows users to request deliveries for items weighing no more than 30 pounds and excluding animals, alcohol, illegal items, stolen items, and items deemed dangerous, such as guns and explosives. Uber began scaling back UberRush last year when it stopped providing delivery services to restaurants, encouraging them to use UberEats instead.

Uber has tried to expand beyond its core ride-hailing business with mixed results. While UberEats and the UberFreight trucking service will continue, the company shut down its Xchange car-leasing program last September. While Uber has hinted at plans to offer other new services, those plans are likely on ice as the company addresses the fallout from a fatal crash involving one of its self-driving cars.