Getting a kid to soccer practice or a friend's birthday party takes a parent with a car and a free afternoon. Uber may be working on a way to hand that job to a driver instead. The ride-hailing company is quietly building a feature that would let adults book trips for children as young as 10. The details are hiding in plain sight inside the code of Uber's iPhone app, and while nothing is live yet, the engineering work shows where the company's head is at.
Within the current Uber iOS app, there is a reference to adding a 10-to-12-year-old to a family profile. That detail matters because it signals the company is at least testing the idea of serving tweens, a group it has never targeted before.
The system would work like this: whoever manages the family account picks a trusted adult as the rider's contact, and that grown-up has to show up when the trip starts and when it ends. So the parent or guardian is not just booking the ride.
Safety features appear to be part of the plan too. The code references background-checked drivers, PIN confirmation, and live trip tracking, which are the same tools Uber already uses for its teen rides.
Uber's family profile feature is the key to making this work.
Uber has spent the past few years trying to be more than just a way for adults to get downtown. In 2023, it started offering rides for teens 13 to 17 with experienced, well-rated drivers, and that service has since expanded to more than 50 countries. Last year, it released a simplified version of its app designed for seniors.
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A tween option would be the next logical step in that pattern. If you already trust Uber with your teen, the thinking goes, maybe you will trust it with your 10-to-12-year-old too.
The company is not saying much about it. An Uber spokesperson said in a statement that "this isn't a live product and while we're always looking to meet the needs of busy families, currently the only Teen product we offer is for teens ages 13 to 17." That is the official line, but the engineering effort suggests a launch is being considered, even if it is not guaranteed.
Uber would not be entering an empty field. HopSkipDrive Inc., a U.S. children's ride company, already allows parents and guardians to book trips for children as young as six heading to school or other activities. That service is built around the idea that some kids need a ride and their parents cannot always be the ones behind the wheel.
Uber is in thousands of cities and has millions of drivers. If it turns this feature on, it could make kid-specific rides available far more widely than any competitor has managed.
For parents, this is about flexibility. A service like this could fill the gap when work runs late, a second child has a conflicting event, or a car is in the shop. The safety tools matter, but so does the convenience of having a backup option that does not require calling in a favor.
For investors, the story is about Uber broadening its reach. The company has already won over adult riders, and it is now layering in new audiences. Teen rides opened one door.
Senior rides opened another. A tween service would open a third, and with it, a chance to turn a family's occasional need into a regular habit.
The feature is not active, and it may never launch. But the fact that Uber is building it, as of August 12, 2026, tells you where the company sees its next wave of growth. If it does roll out, the question for parents will be simple: would you trust a stranger with your kid's ride to practice? Uber is betting the answer is yes.
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