In an announcement made on Tuesday, ride-sharing service Uber revealed that it has launched a new feature - called 'Family Profiles' - to enable its customers to conveniently pay for rides for their family members and friends.

Announcing the rollout of the new 'Family Profiles' feature, Uber said that the convenience of paying for others' rides was one of the most frequent requests which customers had been making to the company of late.

With regard to the rollout of the 'Family profiles' feature, Uber said that the feature is first being introduced for Uber users in only some select markets, including Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix. However, subsequently the feature will be made available to Uber users in other markets as well.

According to the details shared by Uber, the new feature is dubbed 'Family Profiles,' but it gives customers the ability to pay for any person's Uber ride, and is not thus limited to the users' immediate family. Uber further explained that customers can use the 'Family Profiles' feature to pay for the Uber rides of their friends, colleagues, or anybody else.

However, one restriction linked to the use of the 'Family Profiles' feature is that it can be used only by Uber users who are above 18 years of age and have their own account. As such, the feature cannot be used by customers with younger members of their family.