MILAN (Reuters) – Uber Applied sciences (NYSE:) Inc has clinched a deal to combine its ride-hailing app with Italy’s largest taxi dispatcher because it seeks to spice up its presence within the eurozone’s third-largest economic system, the corporate mentioned on Tuesday.

The transfer is a part of Uber’s technique of working with established taxi operators, tapping right into a restoration in demand after the pandemic-driven downturn.

Underneath the settlement with IT Taxi, over 12,000 taxi drivers in Italy could have entry to the Uber platform. It’s going to make the app obtainable in over 80 new cities and develop Uber’s present enterprise in huge cities akin to Rome, Milan, Turin and Bologna.

The partnership, which is able to begin in June, follows comparable offers in Spain, Germany, Austria, Turkey, South Korea, Hong Kong as nicely in New York and San Francisco. The corporate desires to have each taxi obtainable on its app by 2025.

“This can be a really historic deal in certainly one of our most strategically essential markets globally,” mentioned Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

“We strongly consider taxis and Uber are higher collectively, and we’re dedicated to creating this a partnership of belief and cooperation lengthy into the longer term,” he added.

Like different international locations in Europe, Italy in 2015 blocked the usage of the Uber service that relied on drivers with out business licences following authorized challenges by taxi associations.

In Italy, Uber presently operates in eight cities, together with Rome and Milan, the place it gives its so-called Uber Black service, offering skilled drivers in luxurious sedans.