Uber Archives - Cabstartup

Tag: Uber

How UBER makes money? (Hint: It doesn’t!)

The ride-hailing giant, Uber with a net worth of US $100 billion, took the transportation industry by storm after first setting foot into the marketplace. Since then, it has evolved to make headways into many diverse fields like Uber Eats for food delivery services and Uber Freights for the trucking industry.

The previous article helped us gain insights into how Uber works. Now, let’s look into the business aspects of the company to understand how Uber makes money.

One of the fastest-growing, controversial companies to ever emerge from Silicon Valley, Uber is apparently struggling to stay afloat in an otherwise steady marketplace. Contradictory to common belief, the modern mobility giant is heavily dependent on investor funding. The business revenue that it generates is not sufficient to cover the costs, therefore, it requires investors to bridge the gap.

Why is UBER an attractive ground for investors?

Not every marketplace allows businesses to grow. UBER learned this the hard way while exploring China. Even with many big names failing to survive in the region, UBER took its chances – it created a separate unit for China, collaborating with the local tech giant Baidu back in 2013. The company faced challenges from the beginning, and soon after investing millions of dollars, they saw their business model failing – it just wasn’t made for the Chinese market. Therefore, after a few short years into the country, with substantial losses in terms of money and reputation, UBER China was sold to its biggest competitor – Didi. UBER, however, still has a 19% stake in Didi. Whether it was a well-crafted, strategic move or a humiliating defeat is still open to debate.

So, the question is, why a startup, founded in 2009, still turbulent more than a decade down the road, is an attractive ground for investors?
Here’s why:

  • Big stakeholders in the game make it to the executive board at Uber. Now, this is critical for businesses because it gives them the power to influence important decisions of a leading ride-hailing company. This is how the founding CEO of UBER, Travis Kalanick was voted out and had to step down from his role in 2017.
  • Purchasing equity for a company like Uber helps businesses stay part of the organization even after leaving the company due to any reason or a turn of events, like what happened in the case of Travis Kalanick.

Uber’s sustainability plan

Becoming self-sustainable for a company like Uber is essential to its success.

So, how does Uber plan to do it?

To understand that better, let’s briefly look at how UBER makes money with the existing system.

Fare for each ride is divided among three stakeholders. The exact ratio varies from region to region. Generally, however, the driver and the owner take 70% of the share, with the remaining 30% going to UBER.
The existing percentage of share that UBER has is not sufficient enough for it to pay the bills. Therefore, it is working on plans to achieve sustainability in the future.

So, how does UBER make money?

Autonomous Vehicles

UBER’s CEO Khosrowshahi intends to get the startup profitable by the year-end 2021. One of the biggest keys to attaining profitability for the transport giant is by UBER establishing its influence in the world of autonomous vehicles. Even though the program has been under execution since 2015, under the then-CEO Travis Kalanick, with plans to launch a pool of self-driving vehicles by 2020 but, this had its share of disruptions including a test vehicle drive that led to a fatal accident.

This created hurdles for the company since UBER began losing trust among the masses therefore, it recently sold its self-driving unit to a startup, Aurora. This seems like a strategic move by UBER because they don’t want to lose their influence on the world of autonomous vehicles. Reality will, however, soon unveil itself a few years down the road.

Abandoning Private Vehicles ownership

Since UBER works by collaborating with the vehicle owners, a substantial amount of the fare goes to them. This significantly reduces the profit margin for UBER therefore, it has planned to abandon private vehicle ownership by introducing its very own vehicles.

Electric Cars

As part of the clean air initiative, UBER has decided to completely switch to electric vehicles in the US, Canada, and Europe by 2030 and in the rest of the world by 2040. One of the major hurdles in making this switch is cost. Therefore, to encourage drivers to change vehicles, Uber drivers owning a hybrid vehicle will charge 50p extra for each trip, and for those running completely electric vehicles, this additional charge will be $1.50. This is already operational in several US and Canadian cities.

UBER’s M&A (Merger and Acquisition)

UBER is the most dominant ride-hailing company world-wide.

Ever wondered why? It’s because they don’t let competition stay in the market for long – they acquire it.

In the recent past, UBER completed the acquisition of Postmates Inc. for $2.65B in the US, which is a food and grocery delivery company. It has its food delivery service, UberEats. Both of them will run side-by-side supported by a combined, more efficient delivery network.

UBER also acquired the Dubai-based ride-hailing service, Careem for $3.10B. It is now entirely-owned by Uber, preserving its brand name. Careem’s co-founder, Mudassir Sheikha will continue leading the business, reporting to an executive board consisting of 3 members from Uber and 2 from Careem. Both the businesses will be operating in the regions as independent brands, offering their services.

Apart from this, there is an entire array of diverse businesses that UBER has acquired or plans to do so. By adopting this strategy in the marketplace, UBER is no more limited to the ride-hailing industry. It is making a mark across the globe in a multitude of industries.

The way forward

The main focus for UBER to date is to attain self-sustainability. There, however, have been talks regarding the startup’s plan to introduce deliveries via drones and flying UBER as taxi services.

The buzz around drone deliveries has subsided so far, but in 2019, there had been talks regarding UBER’s plan on launching drones for food and other delivery services especially in the densely populated cities to reduce delivery time and cost.

UBER elevate does, however, meet once yearly to discuss its progress regarding their flying UBER venture. Like most businesses across the world, UBER had its fair share of hits due to the global pandemic which forced it to take a step back from its dream of flying high into the air. Therefore, Joby Aviation of California will take over UBER elevate after an intricate deal in which UBER will invest $75 million in the startup. This, similar to the autonomous vehicle unit, seems like a long term strategy by UBER.

One of the fastest, controversial companies of its times, UBER has made a significant impact upon the ride-hailing industry. It continues to do so, expanding across the globe, offering market-appropriate services in a multitude of diverse fields. Struggling to stay influential in a significant portion of the world, UBER has learned from its mistakes in China, and other regions, trying to make intelligent, strategic moves to strengthen its roots within the industry.

If you are looking to explore the ride-hailing industry, reach out to us and let our experts help you out!

By Ammama Gill 0 Comments

How UBER works: Under the hood

Uber is a ridesharing software solution that completely revolutionized the dynamics of the traditional taxi industry. Established in 2009, the company rapidly gained popularity as an attractive transport alternative to conventional taxi services by offering a seamless user experience at an affordable price point.

CNBC ranked Uber as the second most disruptive company of 2018. Though it has since fallen off the list, Uber still dominates the transport market significantly.

Over the years, it has expanded exponentially, making headways into many diverse fields, introducing UberPool for ride-sharing services, offering peer-to-peer rides through UberPop, and establishing luxury travel options like UberLux. Uber is also working to develop flying taxis for fast travel.

In this article, we will gain insights into how Uber works, understanding the challenges it faces and Uber’s strategies to build a workaround for them.

Uber system design

Uber’s application is designed to look simple. But, when a rider requests a ride, an entire intricately connected backend ecosystem activates to deliver a smooth experience for its users.

Like most web-based applications, Uber started as a monolithic system architecture with a few application servers and a database. The initial system worked fine for providing services within a few cities, but, as its presence within the world swelled, Uber shifted to a service-oriented architecture, consisting of numerous services.

Basic Algorithm

The dispatch system design of Uber acts as a real-time marketplace where it matches the demands with the supply using smartphones.

How does Uber work
So, the entire system has three broadly categorized services:

  • The Demand Service
  • The Supply Service
  • The DISCO service

In the subsequent sections, we will talk about all these services briefly.

The Demand Service

When a rider books a ride, it gets connected to the demand service of Uber, accessing the GPS location of the rider to track the pickup point along with other specifications that the rider has requested for in the particular ride. This demand then matches with a cab within the supply pool.

The Supply Service

All the active drivers registered with Uber, periodically send their geolocation to the Supply Service with other details like the status of the drivers, for future reference. This way, whenever demand arises, the supply service has the latest information and can match with an appropriate supply.

Now that we understand the basic working of these two services, we will move on to the matching service, known as DISCO in Uber.

DISCO (Dispatch Optimization)

DISCO or Dispatch Optimization is where a series of events are activated in real-time to match demands with the supplies.

Efficient location tracking is pivotal for applications like Uber. Therefore, to enhance system output, Uber uses Google’s S2 library, which divides the entire system into small, equal-sized cells. These cells are labeled uniquely for ease of identification.

When demand arises, DISCO matches all the available supplies within the vicinity of the rider’s cell ID, matching the best possible cab with the rider based on the existing roadmap. This is critical because the road infrastructure and the traffic conditions determine the ETAs of the driver candidates. The supply service then matches the best driver available for the trip.

The DISCO algorithm aims to decrease the trip ETA by reducing:

  • Overall wait time
  • Driving time and distance

Uber’s challenge – Providing a seamless user experience

Now, since we have formed a basic understanding of how to design Uber backend, let’s look at the various technical challenges a real-time system faces and the workarounds Uber has found for them.

Dispatch systems like Uber are required to provide an uninterrupted and seamless user-experience. Matt Ranney, chief systems architect for Uber says:

“Another challenge is that Uber cannot afford a system failure. Ever. If a Uber customer cannot get a Uber car, then they will switch to another app. There is no brand loyalty. The systems must always work.”

To enhance system performance, Uber chooses technologies that are steady and can deliver results rapidly. It ensures that the entire infrastructure works independently of each other by carrying out extensive testing. So that, even with partial systems crashing, there is no down-time.

Scaling the dispatch system

Dispatch system-based applications like Uber require effective, scalable architectures to accommodate fast information processing in real-time. Uber addresses these challenges by using various standard technologies combined with their in-house solutions.

The dispatch system is written in Node.js, a platform built for real-time distributed systems. It has an asynchronous and event-based framework that aids the sending and the receiving of messages over WebSockets. But, according to the system architecture at Uber, Node.js and Python have performance issues therefore, Uber might switch to IO.js, a branch of Node.js, further enhancing system performance.

Uber also needed a mechanism to scale and distribute the data to multiple servers, for which it uses its RingPop technology, similar to Riak and Amazon’s Dynamo. Uber’s RingPop solution also manages cluster membership using SWIM (Scalable Weakly-consistent, Infection-style Process Group Membership Protocol).

Uber has also modified its communication channel, calling it the TChannel which is similar to Twitter’s MUX but, since Uber supports more languages compared to Twitter, it had to transform the standard RPC communication protocol to adjust to its requirements.

According to Ranney, Uber is also replacing HTTP and JSON with Thrift.

“We are even looking to replace HTTP+JSON, a typical REST API, with Thrift, as our tests are showing that it is 20 times faster. We need all the speed we can get.”

The use of these modified technologies significantly aids in improving system performance at Uber, a key factor to its success.

Data management

Real-time applications like Uber have a significant dependency on reliable data access at all times. Traditional database system architectures may act as a single point of failure for the entire system. Therefore, Uber uses Big Data stores as the infrastructure for its technologies, using tools like Redis and Postgres.

Uber considers smartphones portable minicomputers, using driver’s applications to distribute data. This way, the pressure of data replication across servers is relieved. As mentioned earlier, all the drivers check in with the supply service periodically, to receive an encrypted digest in return. If at some point, the driver does not receive a reply, it automatically connects to the backup server.

To handle these periodic driver updates, Uber works with a Kafka Cluster which logs all the incoming data traffic. This information is then sent to different worker nodes and persisted to the database asynchronously.

The way forward

Uber system design continues to evolve to match the rising user demands. It has made its mark on the transportation industry, revolutionizing the dynamics of the existing infrastructure completely.

The key to its success is performance, therefore, this is how Uber works to expand its ecosystem, providing a swift user experience. Uber’s model has set the bar high for enterprises that aim to produce fast, distributed, and scalable services for its consumers.

If you need a dispatch system similar to Uber, contact us and let our experts help you out!

By Ammama Gill 0 Comments

Uber and Hyundai make Headway into Flying Taxi at CES 2020

The ride-hailing industry is off to a remarkable start to the decade as Uber teams up with Hyundai for flying taxis. Though the official announcement came at CES 2020, both businesses shared their ambitions regarding flying cars years ago. Hyundai is believed to be working on this project for quite some time now. They signaled the unveiling at CES only a couple of months back but announced what they call “Project Elevate” over a year ago.

Uber is publicly working on upping their game in skies since 2016 when they first announced Uber Elevate. Hyundai is not the first manufacturer to collaborate with Uber on aerial mobility services. Bell joined forces with Uber at CES 2019 to announce their air ambitions using Bell’s Nexus Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

The long road to reaching the flying taxi

Uber remains the top stakeholder in the global on-demand services industry since its inception in 2009. A decade of absolute dominance allows the business to define and shape the sources of future mobility. We are yet to witness an Uber flying taxi though and it may take a few years. Uber officially announced 2023 as the year to publicly launch aerial service.

This ride-hailing giant is not only one of the pioneers of flying taxi but stands among pioneering autonomous cars as well. Uber is working on self-driving taxis for more than half a decade.

However, their autonomous taxi campaign was hit with a serious blow in May 2018 when one of the vehicles fatally hit a pedestrian. Uber executives are still struggling to build confidence in public and pass through regulatory phases since the incident.

Prior to collaborating with Bell, Uber partnered with a number of VTOL aircraft manufacturers including Bell and Aurora Flight Sciences in the major manufacturers and Embraer, Mooney, and Karem among the smaller ones. Jaunt and Joby are the latest additions in Uber air taxi manufacturing partners.

The struggle in making considerable progress with autonomous cars is one major hurdle on their way to rule skies. This is why the business is collaborating with a large number of UAV manufacturers. If one manufacturer fails to satisfy their business requirements, they will have plenty of other options to work with.

Uber begins to set rules for aerial taxi service

Uber is in the process of setting up the rules of the game that it is going to play for the next few decades. In the absence of any notable competitor, the company is trying to ensure that regulators come up with rules that best suit the ride-hailing prodigy.

Uber Elevate Summit is an annual conference and exhibition organized by Uber as part of its Elevate project to identify the challenges in flying taxi and come up with the most promising solutions. Uber executives take this conference as an opportunity to intensify their relationship with other stakeholders including influential bodies responsible for air taxi regulation.

The company introduced the eVTOL common reference model (eCRM) in 2016 with a few amendments in the subsequent years. The model serves as the set of standards for manufacturers and designers to ensure compliance with safety regulations and operational efficiency. Although eCRM originally emerged for vehicles controlled by pilots, Uber reuses it for UAVs as well.

As per eCRM, each vehicle should be capable of cruising at 150 mph and continue operations of 25 miles and less with a charge time of as low as 7 minutes. Moreover, the eVTOL should be able to fly for 60 miles before switching on to reserve energy and should be almost noise-free.

The efforts toward succeeding at flying Uber taxi is not limited to collaborations with VTOL UAV manufacturers and influencing the regulators. Uber also went into partnership with NASA to develop air traffic plan for the times ahead. As per the company’s executives, Uber flying taxi would be operating in the urban areas with individuals needing to go farther than a vehicle’s range would require hops.

How exactly does Uber Flying Taxi work?

Uber aims to build what it calls Skyports. These ports would essentially be the platforms where a vehicle would take off and land. Besides, the port would also have an infrastructure for charging. Like vehicle manufacturers, Uber also partners with architects to develop the designs for Skyports. The company claims that Skyports would be capable of handling 1,000 landings per hour while occupying the least possible space.

Since hundreds of vehicles would be aerial in a region as small as having a radius less than 5 miles, Uber air taxi or for that matter any aerial taxi service would need to have highly sophisticated software that enables each drone in the network to complete operations seamlessly.

Elevate Cloud Services is the model that Uber is aiming to use to ensure seamless activity. This cloud-based operation would allow information sharing in real-time between aircraft and network operators. It is notable that operators would only be used for monitoring as the entire operation would remain automated.

Video below is a depiction of Skyports, the kind of drones and operations.

An individual aiming to get a ride on Uber drone taxi would need to schedule via mobile app. Similar to what passengers do while booking a traditional Uber taxi. However, passengers would need to travel to the nearest Skyport. Instead of an Uber plane landing on the driveway of passengers’ homes.

Competitors of Flying Uber Taxi

Although Uber introduced flying taxi in partnership with manufacturers earlier as well, yet their collaboration with. Bell was the first instance of UAV based aerial taxi. A couple of service providers are operating in various parts of the world using human-controlled VTOL aircraft before Uber.

Volocopter in Singapore is performing operations on a commercial scale for many years. It has also introduced the service in Dubai recently. However, Volocopter only operates aircraft controlled by humans.

Boeing is also aiming to play a central role in the flying taxi industry. Although Aurora Flight Services – one of the subsidiaries of Boeing – is currently in partnership with Uber to mass-produce Uber Flying Taxi. Yet Boeing is likely to become one of the top competitors of Uber after large-scale commercialization.

Are you planning to get into flying taxi business?

Uber plans to launch demonstrator flights in Dallas and Los Angeles on a limited scale. In mid-2020 and gradually increasing the scale up to 2023 where they plan to launch commercial operations. The demonstrations are likely to occur around the time when the 4th Elevate Summit would be underway in June 2020.

Thus, Uber Flying Taxi is expected to take to the skies very soon. The demonstration at successive CES events, first with Bell and now with Hyundai, indicates its commitment toward flying taxi ambitions. Although more competitors may emerge in the future, yet Uber is currently facing no serious rivalry. This would be the most suitable time for new players to jump in and grab a significant market share.

CabStartup provides ride-hailing solutions to businesses that wish to introduce unparalleled transportation services. Our cloud-based solution is being used not only by ground-based but aerial and marine-based ride-hailing providers too. Contact us today so that our expert can guide you further.

By Shahrukh Satti 0 Comments

Ford and Uber Rule CES 2019 Tech Trends

The Autonomous Ride-hailing technologies kept on buzzing in the halls of CES 2019 events. Many nominees including some of the winners of Best of Innovation Award belonged to vehicle intelligence category. The tech analysts are certain that the self-driving cars and the technology associated to it remain the focus of innovators. While many auto manufacturers displayed their autonomous cars, Ford and Uber grabbed most of the public’s attention. Perhaps, this is why both companies are highly featuring in the 2019 CES tech trends.

This article looks into the ways in which the products unveiled by Ford and Uber at CES 2019 will revolutionize the urban transit systems in the near future.

Ford at CES 2019

Ford revealed its autonomous taxi service plan a several months before the start of CES 2019. The automotive giant is set to evolve the concept of mobility to an entire new level. It projects to start the self-driving taxis by 2021. Although Alphabet Inc. already introduced the autonomous cab service in Arizona few months back, yet Ford carries more ambitious plans.

Transportation Mobility Cloud

Ford does not make the highlight of CES for the first time. The manufacturer also made to the headlines last year when it unveiled the Transportation Mobility Cloud. The leaders at Ford believe that this cloud-based platform is going to connected entire mobility system for urban settlers.

Vehicles will be communicating with each other to keep the journey uninterrupted. This platform brings the world astonishingly closer to achieving the milestone of CASE – Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric – vehicles.

A number of tech companies are raised by Ford to test the TMC. Many established companies are also partnering with the manufacturer. These companies come from a wide range of mobility channels. For instance, Spin – a company providing dockless scooters – is in partnership with Ford to add the utility driverless utility to this service. RideOS is another company currently in collaboration with Ford. It offers to facilitate the autonomous taxi businesses for their deployment.

Chariot is a successful implementation of the TMC. This shuttle service enables the commuters to travel to work.

Impact of the TMC

Thus, the TMC enables the app developers to connect vehicles from every kind of transportation means. The widespread deployment of this platform will lead to one of the major accomplishments in developing the smart cities. Ford CES 2019 reinforce this assumption.

The most intriguing consequence will be the end of private ownership of vehicles. Ford is on the way to creating an entire new industry without disrupting the existing ones. For instance, the car dealerships will still be operating. The only distinction lies in the fact that the purchasing parties will belong to ride-hailing services. In essence, there will be B2B sales between automobile dealerships and transporters whereas B2C sales will halt.

Until now, Ford is yet to introduce its autonomous ride-sharing service. One can forecast the efficiency of the service by assessing the success of Chariot, rideOS and Spin. Ford is transforming the transportation industry in general and autonomous ride-sharing services in particular through its remarkable inventions. From bustling bus rapid transit systems to scooters roaming in the streets the impact is visible.

Uber at CES 2019

Uber is one of the primary stakeholders of contemporary commute industry. It currently keeps presence in over 70 countries. The pioneering experience of on-demand cab service adds tremendous value to its credibility. The consumers, investors and tech enthusiasts expect the major stakeholders from every industry to share notable inventions. Thus, Uber is preparing to move multiple steps ahead. Its partner reveals, arguably, the most attractive product in the list of CES 2019 tech trends.

Many analysts are predicting the massive vehicle traffic problems in the near future due to ever-increasing cars. The rate of increase in the number of vehicles is alarmingly high. However, the width of roads and alternate routes are not developing with the same pace as vehicle rates.

Uber-Bell Flying Car Nexus

The leadership at Uber is doing more than talking. Bell – one of the top partners of Uber – exhibited the flying vehicle named as Nexus. The VTOL-enabled aircraft is drawing widespread attention since Uber already announced to use this machine for their on-demand flying taxi service. Many commentators project the pilot-less aircraft to cause the same degree of transformation as the introduction of cars for commuting means.

By mid-2023, Uber wants to launch the service. This launch will undoubtedly be a giant leap towards the development of smart cities. The electrically powered, connected and autonomous aircraft wins the support from a wide range of public and corporate circles. These crafts with six fan pods will improve the quality of air along with the CASE vehicles moving on roads.

Impact and Challenges

By the end of next decade, the urban settlers might come across more air-taxi vehicles than the road-based ones. The travel time will be significantly reduced. Many companies are developing software which ensures detection and classification of objects with precision from a considerable range. The embedding of these products will continue the motion of aircraft and vehicles without interruption. There will be no wait time to allow the other vehicle to pass. InnovizOne Auto-Grade Lidar is one such product that managed to win the CES 2019 Best of Innovation award.

The 600 pounds Nexus can carry five people simultaneously. However, Uber is going to face many challenges before realization of this idea. The regulatory bodies are yet to approve this concept. They will decide after assessing all of the potential negative impacts on cities. They will also evaluate the security features by making Nexus to traverse millions of miles before its commercialization.

Commuters also carry fear to travel by a drone. Uber and Bell face a fierce competition to grab the major share of market because many other companies are collaborating to provide air taxi.

Ride-hailing industry is evolving with the advent of intelligent vehicles. There is a huge opportunity for the investors to own autonomous taxi businesses. To grow with us, start your free trial today.

By Shahrukh Satti 0 Comments

Google Assistant: Book Your Cabs from Uber, Ola, And More

Google Assistant is getting smarter than ever before. It enables users to ask questions and get answers. The service goes beyond the messaging app Allo, as it is now providing a lot more features.

Google Assistant is now available in all kinds of Android smartphones that run Android Marshmallow, Nougat, or Oreo. Most recently, Google Assistant also found its way to the Pixel C. Here’s detailed information regarding the Google Assistant that you need to know.

Google Assistant is one of the best perks to Android users that is combined with an original speaking format. This article delivers the knowledge regarding Google Assistant, what it can do, how to use it, and how to book your cabs from Uber, Ola, Lyft etc. with Google Assistant.

What is Google Assistant?

Google Assistant is a new Google feature which can perform various functions. It has established superiority over others. Google Assistant launched in 2016 as part of Google’s smart messaging app Allo. Soon after, the Assistant made a jump to Google’s Pixel phones. But now, it is free to download for anyone using Android 5 Lollipop or above.

In addition to Android support, there’s an Assistant app for iOS. Google Assistant is already built into your phone and ready to go. However, some Android devices require the independent Google Assistant app. On iOS, you can access Google Assistant by installing it.

How to Get Google Assistant?

If you do not find Google Assistant installed on your smartphone, you can download this app from the Play Store. You will need a phone with Android 5 Lollipop or higher, or Android 6 Marshmallow or higher on tablets. Moreover, your device must have at least 1.4GB of memory and a 720p screen. iPhone users can download the Google Assistant app from the App Store. It requires iOS 9.1 or newer.

Procedure to Use Google Assistant:

On compatible Android phones, you can call up Google Assistant by pressing and holding the Home button or say OK Google. On an iPhone/iPad, you’ll need to open the Google Assistant app and either say ‘OK Google’ or tap the microphone icon. You also have the option of type out a question rather than using your voice. Use the keyboard to enter text into Google Assistant. It will respond via a voice message. Assistant can coordinate with lots of apps and services, and it will show Google results regarding your query.

Google Assistant possesses the Ability to Book Cabs from Uber, Ola, and More

Google Assistant is now offering the ability to book cabs across ride-hailing services such as Uber, Ola, Lyft, and more. Users will now be able to ask Google Assistant to book cabs from their smartphones. Apart from booking cabs, Assistant will also show you estimated time and pricing for each operator to help you decide without having to access the individual apps.

Now, you can book a ride with Google Assistance, to prompt this new action, you will need to say “Hey Google, book me a ride to XYZ destination” from the available options. If you want to use a single provider like Uber, users can say “Hey Google, get me an Uber ride to XYZ destination.”

Once done, select the preferred cab-hailing provider from your smartphone, and the app will open to let you confirm the booking. This feature is rolling out in the English language first and will be expanded to other languages later on.

Google Assistant would automatically open up Google Maps when prompted for cab details. The update allows it to show details like wait times and fare pricing right on the digital assistant itself.

We provide quality systems for taxi services all across the globe. If you are a transport service provider company and want to get a system to manage your bookings, fleet, and passengers, to boost your revenue, then you can get a cab booking system from us that will help users to book your services.

Cost to build Taxi App Like Uber

By cabadmin 0 Comments

How E-Hailing Applications Improved the Taxi Industry and What’s Next?

E-hailing refers to the process of calling a taxi, car or any other transportation via any device using the internet and GPS. E-hailing needs applications for booking and dispatch. Various companies are providing taxi dispatch solutions containing passenger and driver apps for Android, iOS, a dispatcher panel, and an admin panel.

How E-Hailing Applications Improved the Taxi Industry and WhatGÇÖs Next

E-Hailing App Qualities:

  •    Gives better user experience
  •    User-friendly interface
  •    Loads in less time

Uber, the famous ride-sharing company, has revolutionized the taxi industry, which continues to increase market share, claiming 62 million rides in July 2016, up from 54 million the preceding month.  Extended in 450 cities globally, Uber has revolutionized the transportation industry, but its rise in popularity brings a few questions in mind:

  1. What does this change bring for taxi companies?
  2. How can taxi companies compete with Uber and get back market share?
  3. Will Uber keep on dominating the transportation industry in the future?

Uber Disrupted the Market with the Ease of an App:

How was Uber able to entirely disrupt the taxi industry?

It was achieved by combining modern technology with flexible payment and pricing strategies, while concurrently offering a useful platform for prospective drivers.

It is clear that the car hire industry fits a mobile geolocation app.  Uber recognized this symbiosis and launched its mobile app, which enables users to book a ride, with just a few taps.  They use the GPS of the device to fetch the current location’s coordinates or allows the user to set the pickup point. The user can follow the driver’s current location after booking, in real time.  The app also incorporates a rating system, in which the drivers are assessed at the end of a ride. Uber keeps the drivers that receive an excellent rating from its operation, and take notice of those drivers, showing poor ratings, thereby maintaining a high customer service standard.

To add to the ease of its users, users select the payment method of their own choice and enter the required info only once, which saves the rider’s time and hassle.  Users get driver status and remaining time to reach to the destination increasing the transparency of the service.

Uber’s Platform Supports Competitive Pricing:

As Uber is not like a traditional taxi service, but preferably, a ride-sharing service, it is free of taxes and license fees.  Uber has chosen reasonable transaction costs, that excludes reservation costs, and enjoys the benefits of contracting its drivers as agents, not as employees.  The drivers are also not subject to higher insurance rates or expensive permits and are in reality turning their existing cars, into an income-generating mechanism.  These combined advantages allow Uber a competitive pricing to their customer base while creating revenues to its network of drivers. Potential drivers have the flexibility and possibility to utilize the available resources, i.e., a car and their free time and turn them into revenues.  

Taking on The Taxi Industry:

Uber users are increasing steadily, as a result of their satisfaction from the little pickup time, the enhanced convenience and the lower rates, so there is a resulting increase in demand for drivers.

Due to the “Uber’s Revolutionary impact” there is a decrease in the number of rides a cab gives, leading to a decline in the profits of the medallions.  The increased competition has also led to the end of some taxi businesses that were regularly losing customers to Uber. In San Francisco, the largest taxi company registered for bankruptcy in 2016.

Book An Appointment CTA

How Can the Taxi Businesses Compete With Uber?

Customers understand that there are benefits of riding in a regulated and safer environment.  Furthermore, Uber has price hikes at peak hours, in which their prices fluctuate and are less competitive.  Taxi companies should take advantage of this market gap of reliability and set reasonable prices, while promoting their level of service, to win back market share. Taxi companies should consider the following 4 points to compete with Uber and other ride-sharing companies effectively:

1. Offer Alternative Payment Methods

  • Increased convenience to the customers
  • Increase the level of payment security for both the passenger and the taxi company
  • Increase flexibility due to a variety of alternative payment methods available to the passenger

2. Incorporate Apps for Taxi Booking

Much of Uber’s success is due to the utilization of advanced technology and enabling customers to book a ride with an app.  Taxi companies must offer this easy method for ordering a taxi as well to attract more customers. Taxi companies can develop their app or get on-demand solution provider company to establish an e-hailing app, similar to UBER.

3. Invest in Training Programs to Boost Driver Service Levels

Uber drivers are held responsible for their level of service, and they are dismissed from the service if they are not up to the standard.  Taxi companies must attempt to ensure that their drivers provide the same level of service, if not better than the competition. Taxi companies should invest in service seminars to train their drivers regarding customers services.  A similar rating system can be used to assess drivers and those having consistently poor reviews should be criticized to improve customer satisfaction.

4. Keeping Up the Car Maintenance

One of Uber’s benefits is that it contributes newer and more comfortable cars.  Taxi companies must attempt to keep their cabs well-maintained, thereby ensuring their customers’ comfort.  Make sure the seats of the cab are comfortable, and that the air-conditioning reaches the passengers appropriately.  Keep the car clean, and make sure the exterior and interior of the cabs are welcoming.

The Future of Cab Industry

Uber’s current business model has reduced fares, through enabling the lower rates to passengers, yet require payments to the drivers.  These subsidies are considerably the reason why Uber is losing money today, with the increase in ride volume. Uber faced a loss of $2 billion in 2015 and a collective $4 billion loss since inception.  At some point, Uber will need to make changes to ensure a profit-generating business model.

Taxi companies need to consider the Uber model to take a lesson for running a business successfully, to improve their services, utilization of app-backed hiring options and offer alternative options for cash payments.  By improving efficiencies and catering to what today’s market demands, taxi cabs will be positioned to win back the market share.

Uber Business Model

By cabadmin 0 Comments

Road to Future of On Demand Services Industry

Ever since Uber took the market by storm, the on-demand services industry has experienced an incredible rise, becoming one of the most popular industries for most new entrepreneurs. However, just thinking up services and attaching an app to them isn’t enough to guarantee success; to achieve that, business owners need to understand the nuances of the industry they are operating within and how they can mold the business around the on-demand model in a way that works efficiently.

In our day and age, we are at a place where convenience is at the top of our priority list, and since we have experienced a steady stream of high-quality services lately, it has become tougher for new companies to meet our expectations, but if they do, then they will reap the rewards.

Success stories

Now, let’s talk about some of the biggest success stories in this industry:

Uber:

It goes without saying that Uber is most likely the biggest success story in this industry seeing as how it was after Uber came into the limelight that people began paying more attention to the on-demand industry. Furthermore, another testament to Uber’s success is that it has surpassed the $51 billion line with over 40 million riders per month.

Postmates:

For those who don’t know, Postmates is an on-demand food delivery app. The startup provides its services in most parts of the US in over 200 cities. Its major target audience is millennials since they are far too busy to take time out to go to a restaurant for food. Postmates gives them the ability to save time and effort by delivering food to their doorsteps. Moreover, Postmates has already amassed over, $280 million in delivery sales and has partnered with over 7000 restaurants.

Uber Business Model

Airbnb:

If your dream is to travel the world and you are wondering how to find rooms for rent, the Airbnb is the answer to your question. On the other hand, if you have a place you are looking to rent out, then Airbnb is your answer once more. So, basically, Airbnb is the travel app that solves the problems for hosts and guests offering high-quality services for both categories. As of 2017, the company’s annual revenue is $2.6 billion and it has over 5 million lodging listings in 81,000 cities over 191 countries and has facilitated over 300 million check-ins.

Target Industries:

Now that we have talked about who the current leaders in the on-demand economy are and how the on-demand model launched them to the epitome of success; let’s discuss why business owners should consider the on-demand model and which industries they can target.

Transportation Industry:

What has made the transportation industry so successful? Well, it was one of the first industries to be disrupted in the on-demand economy.; this comes as no surprise, but Uber is not the only option out there. There are other options too such as Rydr, Insta Drive, Lyft, etc. More and more cab and taxi business are now switching to the on-demand model, even the companies that existed way before smartphone apps were around have now built their own apps to compete in this highly profitable industry. Customers have become accustomed to the convenience and demand for such services is only increasing day by day.

The Rise of Self-Driving Cars:

What is a self driving car? As the name suggests it is a car that drives itself, and it offers its passengers a level of comfort and convenience like no other. The idea of comfort during transport and the increasing reliance on technology has become a cornerstone for the self-driving car movement. That’s why Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo has become one of the latest hot topics in the industry. Waymo is in a vast lead seeing as how in January they reached a deal to buy thousands of Chrysler Pacifica minivans which will be decked out with sensors that can see hundreds of yards in any direction. No other company is planning on offering rides-for-hire let alone preparing to carry passengers in more than one city this year; this can potentially revolutionize the transport industry and launch it into the new age of automation. It also opens up options for new businesses to invest in self-driving cars for taxi services.

Home Services Industry:

Introducing the on-demand concept into the Home services industry opens plenty of doors for those looking for an opportunity in this sector. Entrepreneurs can start an on-demand business for plumbers or electricians or carpenters or maybe make a more substantial handyman business and incorporate the previous three mentioned businesses into one. Turning such age-old and vital services into an on-demand model will not only prove to be beneficial for the business owners but also prove to be helpful for customers because the current smartphone-centric nature of the world will allow the business to reach a wider audience and customers will have easy access to these services.

Food Delivery Industry:

The food delivery service is one of the most dominant industries in the on-demand economy. According to Techcrunch, online food delivery still represents about $210 billion market opportunity. Furthermore, today’s modern lifestyle doesn’t leave enough time for people to make home cooked meals meaning they need an alternative; this is where the food delivery services come in, and most people are glad that they have.

How to Enter the On-demand Industry:

If business owners do not have the expertise required to build their own app or if they don’t have the resources to do so or if they don’t want to make it themselves, then a white label solution is the answer to their predicament. For every on-demand industry, there is a host of white label companies ready to provide their solutions to any business looking to enter the particular industry. Companies like CabStartup for the transport industry and Odtap for just about everything else are some of the high ranking names in the list of white label companies, and they sell their state-of-the-art solutions at affordable prices to companies of all levels.

Conclusion:

The on demand economy is in high gear and on its way to becoming a role model for all future businesses to come. It is dominating most high profile industries such as transport, food, etc. and it has given rise to the advent of an entirely new sector, the white label industry; all this proves that the on-demand industry is the way to go for future (and current) business owners.

By cabadmin 0 Comments
Send a Message
Get Demo