Whether you are a taxi company or a ride-hailing business owner, your competitor is smart and doing better than you. And that is possible because of the help of technology and smart technology partners.
This blog is for those who run a taxi business and want it to be digitalized to become as popular as Uber. We have covered how simple it is to be the next Uber for you and what essential features you should keep in mind while developing an Uber-like app.
It started with an iOS app for Uber that could connect the iPhone user to their drivers and ride them to their destination. Gradually, UberBlack came into existence that gave the riders the option to choose their car for the ride. With time the evolution of UberPool, Uber X, and UberMoto took place.
Not yet to be concluded, Uber will witness a bright future in the sky with UberCopter!
So, what brings in the difference in the app and adds to the scalability of the application? The set of features of Uber! There has been a smooth transition of what once called UberCab has scaled into the billion-dollar transportation business today, Uber.
Once the riders of Uber were only able to Book their rides using the Uber mobile application. For tracking their rides, they had to use Google Maps to track their drivers.
The digital users of today are smart. If one taxi-hailing app consists of a set of features and the other lacks those, the users wouldn’t give it a thought to uninstall the app just to have those extra features.
But take a look at where is Uber today! Now, the riders of Uber can possibly perform all the actions within the app without even feeling the need to go to another application. That’s the high-end functioning of Uber Application.
It is the importance of feature-rich scalability for the digital businesses. If you want to create a Taxi-hailing app like Uber, you need to know Uber as a business. For your ease, we have curated every nit and bit of what literally took off Uber from being just UberCabs to UberCopter!
Expand your taxi hailing application the uber way
When you want to scale up your taxi hailing application or possibly if you are carrying out your research on building your own Uber-like taxi hailing application, you would want to know, “How Uber expanded as a business?”
Here’s your answer!
Uber started offering an affordable taxi service in competition with the high prices of Black taxis in the US.
2009 - Uber was found as UberCabs hit New York
UberCab was the most basic version of Uber. It allowed the riders to connect with their drivers and book their ride.
2010 - UberCabs evolved to Uber and started serving in San Francisco
Uber just got better! It improved its GPS API and ensured that an exact pickup location is fetched to match the driver easily with the rider.
2012 - UberX
UberX was an improved version of UberCabs.
2014 - Uber initiated UberPOOL
Uber started UberPool for the riders who thought UberX was expensive for them.
2015 - Uber began testing on the self-driving cars
Uber started testing on driver-less cars to cut down the cost incurred on resources
2016 – Uber founded UberMoto
Uber found out the most cost-efficient mode of transportation for its customers with motorcycles
2018 - Specifically in India, to compete with Ola autos, Uber founded Uber Auto.
While Ola was a step ahead, Uber was no lesser. It founded Uber Autos and provided an affordable option for its riders.
All this way, it has thought of serving customers-first and that has made all the difference. If you too are planning to go rider-first and driver-first in your Uber-like taxi hailing application business approach, keep reading the features below to get a clear glimpse:
2019- Uber expands in Canada
Uber expands its operations by launching in Regina, Canada.
2020- Uber sells UberEATS to Zomato
Uber sells UberEATS in India to Zomato for a stake of 9.99%.
Advanced features for building an uber-like rider app
Awaiting schedules
After the rider has made his ride using the Uber app, the rider can determine the arrival time of the driver by tracking his taxi hailing to the location using GPS.
Charge estimates
Using the Uber app, the riders select the destination they want to hail to. Here the algorithm of Uber is so powerful that it calculates the cost beforehand for the ride and provides the estimation to the rider.
Multiple payment options
The riders can choose to make payment by any options they want – credit card, debit card, cash, mobile wallets, etc.
Service history
For the calculative riders, Uber came up with a feature called Service History. Here the riders can view all the rides taken by them using the Uber application along with the fare of every ride.
Book now rides later
The riders can book a service that they want to take and can decide to ride later.
Book for others
Uber enables its riders to book the ride for others from their account and they can even track their rides.
Mobile wallets
The riders of Uber can directly pay for their rides by adding money into the app wallet so as to cut down the hassle for making payments with cash and running out of changes.
Panic button
Uber has taken utmost care for the safety of its riders. If you are planning to develop an app similar to the Uber application, it is advisable to incorporate the panic button feature.
This can be used in case of emergencies, accidents, and extremities, the riders can press the panic button to notify their family members, and emergency helplines for rescue operations.
Favorite destinations
The riders of Uber can save the destinations they frequently travel to so that they do not have to enter the location every now and then.
Split charges
For friends sharing a ride, Uber application helps them split their fares on their way and enables them to make their payments separately.
Smart pickup
The riders of Uber do not manually have to input the pickup location. The smart GPS API integrated within the Uber application does it for them.
Track your service costs
Uber is for everyone, even for businesses. The riders who commute daily to their workstations can leverage this feature of the Uber app to keep a track of the service costs incurred to claim reimbursements for their business rides.
Advanced features for building an uber-like driver app
It is a known fact that Uber does not own any of the drivers or cars. The drivers are their own bosses of course with the support of the Uber application. However, it is important to enhance the usability of the drivers. The following features help them get maximum for the service they provide:
Driver delivery reports
The Driver delivery feature in Uber application is for the drivers to keep an eye on their driving skills. Everyday, the drivers get an information about their driving with driver delivery report.
Route optimization
Route optimization is one of the most overlooked features in Uber-like apps. It helps the driver take the most efficient route so that they can reach their destinations faster and that too with minimum fuel consumption.
This can be helpful when there is a lot of traffic or a road hazard. The driver can leverage the route optimization feature, reroute the entire journey and can navigate efficiently to the path.
Drivers destinations
Uber enables the drivers to choose a ride to their preferred destination. This feature can be leveraged by the riders when they are on their way back home.
This way they can make their earnings even when they are preparing to call it a day for their business. twice a day. The drivers can use this feature
Quest earnings
Who doesn’t love earning extra bucks? Well, everyone does! Uber quest feature helps the drivers make extra money for carrying out a certain number of trips in a certain amount of time.
Shorter 2 minute cancellation window
What exactly is a cancellation window? It is time for which the Uber app riders are not charged any amount of fees even if they cancel a ride.
On revision of the policy, Uber made it loud and clear that it is going to be in the favor of the drivers as well and has shortened its cancellation window in uber driver app features.
Tipping
Uber never was in the favor of tipping but it somehow felt the need to support its drivers by making them some additional money. Now that the tipping is allowed, it is completely optional for the riders.
Heat maps
This shows where exactly the drivers should target. Uber launched a heat map feature to show the areas that are in high demand for the taxis. It helps the drivers get the riders easily and many times they can even earn out of surge.
Forward dispatch
The forward dispatch feature of Uber is for the driver who is still on the ride but wants to get another ride as soon as the current one ends. This helps reduce the idle time for the drivers.
Read More: Cab and Bus apps – Why Tourism Industry needs it?
How to go about to plan features for your taxi-hailing application like Uber?
It is not OK to not have a plan especially when you have a pool of on-demand solution competitors.
First of all, you have to decide what do you want for your business and then plan the features.
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Basic app: You want to launch a mobile app with the most basic features.
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Moderate: You want to launch a Uber like mobile app consisting of some features.
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Full-fledged app: You want to launch a full-fledged mobile app consisting of all the features known as the on-demand business model.
Keeping these three possibilities while building an app like Uber, you will be able to derive a list of the features that you want to be incorporated in your taxi-hailing app.
Key takeaway
The endpoint remains that you need to be very cautious about what features you are selecting for your app. Not to make it look like a feature stuffed app, try to be as useful for your end-users as it is the only way to create a place into the hearts and the smartphones of the riders and the drivers.
Another important aspect of creating your own taxi-hailing app lies in the cost to develop Taxi app like Uber. While there are many in the app development market claiming to be the pioneers in the industry not everybody has got that hands-on experience with the on-demand solutions.
The key is to research well for your Uber-like app to ensure that your business is in safe hands.
