Uber Ice Cream Truck Promotion Will Summon Cool Treats

How do you summon an ice cream truck to your current location? There's an on-demand service for that, at least for one day.

On Friday, in honor of national ice cream month, San Francisco-based luxury town car service Uber -- which this week won a temporary victory against efforts to regulate it -- has partnered with local ice cream trucks in seven cities to allow users to request frozen treats as well as classy transportation between noon and 5 p.m.

The service is available in D.C., New York and San Francisco.

Users of the Uber app will see an ice cream cone icon alongside the usual car and SUV options. An ice cream order costs $12 and includes five ice cream products as well as some "Uber swag" -- which in D.C. will take the form of an Uber tank top, according to Rachel Holt, general manager of Uber in D.C.

The actual ice cream products will vary by truck, but Holt promised classic frozen favorites like Klondike bars. Once the truck arrives, users can order more ice cream if they are feeling particularly peckish.

Though the people you might expect to be ordering cars -- politicians, diplomats, and the occasional society matron -- might not be the ones you'd expect to be clamoring for a chipwich, Holt said she expects the promotion to be popular with Washingtonians of all stripes.

"Everyone needs to get around, and who doesn't love ice cream?" she said.

This isn't the first time the company has offered an unorthodox item for delivery. In the past, Uber has pitched on-demand pedicabs, on-demand barbecue sandwiches and once, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, on-demand mariachi bands.

After Friday's mobile ice cream bonanza, it'll be back to just cars for a while, but stay tuned. Holt said her team is always thinking of new possibilities for their on-demand mobile service.

Check out the Uber blog for more information on Friday's ice cream service.