Revisiting Conventional and Innovative Taxi App Features

Technology has already transformed the conventional taxi business with the introduction of smartphone apps. Over the years, various rideshare companies introduced innovative taxi app features.

Now, the ride-hailing industry has matured to the extent that one can define a list of must-have features for a company to survive in the fierce battle for supremacy. Moreover, there is no limit to innovation. Any innovative feature facilitating riders would help owners vanquish their rivals.

Following is a compilation of features picked by CabStartup analysts which ensure survival. There is a list of innovative features later in the text whose adopters can tilt the competition in their favor.

Must-have Taxi booking app features

It would be mundane to remind that drivers, passengers, and administrators should have separate panels. Some companies also offer distinct dispatcher panel to add further convenience for managers. This taxi booking app feature list is a collection of features from each panel.

1. AI-Powered Route Planning for Drivers

With increasing traffic congestion and road densities per square mile, drivers face hard time to find passenger’s location. This factor causes annoyance among riders and wastes time.

However, route planning and optimization software systems are minimizing this problem. These systems based on artificial intelligence share the route which is most suitable for drivers. Such software considers numerous aspects to decide the “best route.”

Most crucial aspects include distance to the destination and traffic density on various roads. Besides, some systems also take into account the obstacles and quality of roads by observing vehicle speed in low-traffic regions.

2. GPS-based Vehicle Tracking

Using a traditional taxi service, passengers and admins have to rely on the driver’s word of mouth. They do not have the capability to track vehicles in real-time. Consequently, passengers are unable to estimate arrival time.

Taxi app must provide the ability to track rides to passengers as well as administrators. App developers can comfortably integrate this feature – thanks to the remarkable efficiency of GPS satellites. There are pre-built APIs which makes the task easier for developers. GPS trackers do not require an internet connection to find one’s own location.

3. Cloud-based Operations for Dispatcher

This is arguably one of the most important features to manage multiple rides seamlessly. Some taxi owners offer apps to passengers, but their dispatcher panel is not hosted on cloud. A cloud enables companies to manage operations remotely.

Using cloud-based approach, the history of past, ongoing, and upcoming rides remains on remotely located servers. The authorized personnel can access this history from anywhere.

In contrast, the taxi apps not offering cloud end-up storing data on local servers. The managers in such cases can access data from centralized physical location only.

4. Knowledge of Ride Partners

A passenger can view details of driver which is tasked to take the ride. These personal details invoke the sense of security among passengers. Similarly, drivers can also view essential information about passengers.

The companies must ensure that sharing of personal information complies with privacy regulations. The administrators do not need to push riders to share particulars every time they request a ride. Cloud-based taxi apps allow saving information of millions of customers and accessing it easily.

The information should also include feedbacks and rating visible to the two stakeholders. Moreover, the app should enable both to rate the experience and share feedback.

5. Digital Invoices with Multiple Payment Options

Traditional taxi services relied on POS devices to generate invoices. Later, they also introduced machine to swipe cards for payments.

It is unwise to continue the same old practices despite the presence of smartphones. Drivers share digital invoice instead of paper receipt. The passengers and admin can access this digital bill later in case of a payment dispute.

Mobile app also enables passengers to pay via other options besides credit card and hard cash. Many developers also offer wallet to top up the balance or pay later.

6. Direct Communication between Driver and Passenger

Millennial are aware of radio taxi services which used to book rides through phone calls. The only choice for passengers to connect with drivers was an indirect one through an agent. This communication mechanism deprived passengers of privacy and forced them to go through an unnecessary hassle.

Smartphone allows direct and free of charge communication between driver and passenger. An app should offer communication through messaging as well as phone call.

Innovative and Underexplored Features of taxi app

A glance at Uber app features list reveals that it offers each of the abovementioned features. However, startups and traditional companies should take few steps ahead of Uber and other giant rideshare companies to outperform thesm.

Following three features are proving to be excessively helpful.

1. Chat Encryption

An app should ensure end-to-end encryption of conversation between driver and passenger. Some service providers weigh down this feature, but it is significant to raise confidence of riders.

However, there are cases when riders complain about inappropriate conversation styles. Thus, the record of chat should remain saved in cloud storage for an unlikely retrieval at some point.

2. Remote Information for Signal Strength

At times, the passenger or driver may have weak internet signals. This may result in unresponsiveness. Eventually, the passenger may cancel the ride and give negative feedback despite the fact that drivers are unable to help.

Therefore, both passengers and drivers should know the signal strength of each other. This ability will prevent them from getting or sharing unintended feedback.

3. Instant Booking option

Many passengers are regular commuters who travel to single destination every day. For instance, working class books rides for traveling to workplaces. Instead of putting details of destination, the app should provide one-click instant booking option.

Though it is not essential for rideshare operations, yet provides considerable relief to individuals sharing same information repeatedly.

There’s More to It

The cloud-based dispatch solution of CabStartup offers each of these conventional and innovative features. Moreover, the product offers a lot more to taxi companies and aspiring startups.

Instead of going into the details of system efficacy, we invite you to start free trial and test the efficiency yourself.