THE business of paying to travel from A to B by car is being shaken up by companies like Uber and Lyft, with both grabbing headlines and new investment dollars as their businesses expand. Last week, Uber garnered an additional $1 billion or so in new funding from investors including Microsoft.

The ride-hailing apps have also spurred a global phenomenon of similar companies. Here are some of the international ride-hailing apps that might be useful while on vacation or doing business overseas.

BlaBlaCar is one of the best known ride-sharing apps in Europe, operating in about 20 countries. Using the app is simple: You sign up, enter details about yourself to create a profile and then type in the specifics of the journey you want to make. BlaBla consults its database of trips being offered by users who own cars and presents them to you in a date-ordered list.

You can filter the list of possible journeys by date and price bracket. Each list entry mentions the time of the trip, the distance and predicted travel time and how flexible the driver is about diversions and so on. The driver’s information is visible, with the type of car.

True to its name, BlaBla includes how chatty the driver is, and there is a place to mark whether you prefer music in the car, if you have a pet and so on. If you choose to ride only with female drivers (or as a driver to accept only female passengers), you can select those options, too. Ratings play a big part in BlaBla; drivers are able to rate riders and vice versa.

BlaBla may work differently in different countries, including how you pay. The app is on iOS and Android, though you may need a local variant of the app depending on the country, which means you may need a local App Store account.

Tripda operates in the United States and about 13 other countries across Asia and South America. Drivers use the app to publish information about their planned routes and would-be passengers can choose among the options to find those that best match their desired journey.

Like BlaBla, the app has user accounts and ratings to add a sense of security (identity assurance comes via Facebook verification) and to make sure payments are reliable. Tripda’s service also has a women-only option.

The app’s interface has a bright, minimalistic design that makes it easy to navigate the options. It is a smaller service than some rivals, which means you may not always find journeys when you want to make them, but it is growing. Tripda is free on iOS and Android.

Hailo is another ride-hailing app, operating in major cities in Britain, Ireland, Japan, Spain and Singapore. It is essentially a smart taxi-hailing app that brings a more traditional cab rolling up to your location instead of a privately owned car.

Because Hailo integrates with existing transportation systems, it sports more advanced features like tracking the location of your ride and payment directly through the app (though you do always have the option of paying a driver in cash). The company behind Hailo promotes the service as one where all drivers are licensed by local authorities, which may help reassure consumers about the security of a ride. The app is free for iOS and Android.

International travelers can always turn to the ride-hailing industry’s leader: Uber. The company has been introducing its service globally at a remarkably fast clip, and is spending its way into vast markets like China and India. Uber operates in about 60 nations, serving more than 300 cities worldwide.

Uber sits somewhere between Hailo and BlaBlaCar. It has its own fleet of drivers who take you to your destination on request like a cab, but it is not part of traditional taxi systems. You can track your ride once you have requested it, and the app uses a ratings system like its peers. Uber has refined its app design so it can be very swift to use the service, which is even available on an Apple Watch.

Before you call an Uber car overseas, though, it is worth doing a little research to understand how accepted or legal Uber is in that particular country, as some passengers have encountered Uber opponents and taxi protests in certain locations. You should be aware that Uber’s journey prices can vary significantly, especially during peak travel times when the company charges what it calls surge pricing. The app is free on iOS and Android.

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