How to Create an On-Demand Taxi App like Uber?

There is no denying that today’s tech-savvy world is moving towards Mobility Solutions as a Service (MaaS) and have started to deviate from the older practices of waiting for taxis to come their way. 

On-demand taxi app or not, one of the recent mobile apps that has my full attention is a Clubhouse-like app. I would love to see other social-audio apps to challenge Clubhouse. After all, sole supremacy isn’t a good thing!

Quite frankly, the entire practice of ‘waiting’ to commute to places has slowly been obliterated from our lives, and rightfully so.

In this fast-paced world, if you are still stuck in your old ways, then good luck to you! But let’s get real, being on time and moving quickly is of the essence since not everyone has the luxury of time. The clock’s ticking and it’s time you do too.

Uber generated $11.1 billion in revenue in 2020, a 21 percent decrease, due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down its ride-hailing operations for most of the year as the Uber taxi users have been growing at an alarming pace.Image Source

With on-demand taxi booking apps like Uber are growing exponentially, there are too many ways businesses and individuals can cash in on the opportunity! Any guesses as to how you could monetize this and start a business?

No guesses yet? Well, here’s how you can monetize – build your own Uber app! Yes, you heard it right, if you are not an uber app developer, you do not have to go all bonkers and leave because you read something that you assumed to be rather more technical.

You can create a taxi app all by yourself and there is no one stopping you from being a far-sighted businessman. Your business is bound to grow because taxi booking app builders witnessed a huge spike. The global ride-hailing market size was valued at USD 6.68 billion in 2017. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.5% over the forecast period.Image Source

Many start-ups have come with these ideas and implemented them successfully but what majorly lacks in a few is the exclusivity of the idea.  It may be best to use a survey creator and find out what your potential customers want and need in a new taxi app.

However, if you want to create a taxi app like Uber, here’s what you need to know:

How to Create An App Like Uber For Free?

The first and foremost is that you need to create two diverse apps that will be linked to your admin portal – one for the driver app and the other for passengers. You might also want to choose an iPhone or Android Apps Development Company to build both apps in perfect sync.

Here’s everything that you must consider before you begin with your taxi booking app development. Uber-like app templates usually have three types of dashboard designs:

• Driver Panel

• Admin Panel

• User/Passenger Panel

How do I build a real-time location app like Uber?

Let’s move on to what all features you must have under each of these dashboard design applications:

Driver Panel for Taxi Booking Apps Like Uber

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This panel is a reservoir to handle, store and review the procedures of the in-app tasks such as payroll management, handling revenue, and top navigation for drivers and trips. Acting as a central control unit, you can keep a track of customer satisfaction, payouts, locations, and gather data on your clients to create a large pool of databases for business improvements.

This panel needs a high-end set of functions that is dynamic and as well user-friendly:

• Verification of Driver’s Profile/Status – All the administrative processes of the license, identity proof, vehicle insurance, bank account details, and other legal formalities have to be verified. 
• Trip Alerts & Driver Destination – Enables the driver to accept or trip orders including information such as passenger’s location, travel route, duration, and ride history. Driver destination helps in choosing the preferred ride options as per the driver’s convenience. 
• Navigation & Route Optimization – Enables the driver to accept the best trip route using Google Maps for the ease of commuting.
• Push Notifications – To notify the driver about a potential passenger, alerts, taxi app booking confirmation, ride information, (location, route, payment, etc.), trip changes, and completion of the trips.

To make your app more technically advanced and robust, you can add these advanced features: 

1. A heat map helps in choosing a location with a more passenger ratio so that the driver can schedule his plan by assessing where more passengers are available.
2. Driver Delivery Reports – These reports give the driver statistical data on the earnings made on a daily/ monthly basis.
3. Messaging and Calling feature to directly communicate with the customer or potential passenger. 
4. Cancellation due to longer waiting time – Even if the trip is canceled or the waiting is exceeded by 5 minutes, the passenger is charged with additional costs adding to the base fare.
5. Forward Dispatch – This feature enables the driver to accept another booking request while completing the current ride.
6. Quest/Bonus Earnings – Driver can earn a bonus on completing the set number of rides. For example: Earn $10 extra by completing 4 deliveries between 5 and 9 PM. This provides an extra incentive for the driver to complete their deliveries by earning more.

Admin Panel for Taxi Booking Apps Like Uber

• Geolocations with heavy interactive mapping and navigation technology
• Booking and fare Management
• Vehicle Management
• Driver & User Management
• Review of Orders & Payoffs
• Ratings & Reviews Management
• Notifications Panel Management
• FAQs & CMS
• Promotions & Discounts
• Driver & Customer Support Management
• Integration with Google Analytics

Passenger Panel for Taxi Booking Apps Like Uber

• Account login page: The best option is to always provide social media along with the email login because you want the process to be quick and engaging with social media interactions.
• Booking interface: This allows the user to enter the address of their destination or trip details to book a cab or schedule a pre-booking.

You can add these features to enhance your user experience and uniqueness of the app:

1. Ride Cancellation – The user can cancel the ride within a predefined time frame.
2. Split Payment – Fellow passengers can split the fare amount.
3. Book for Other – Allows a user to book the ride for another passenger (family or peer) from their own account.
4. Voice Recognition – Enables voice commands and search.
5. Waiting List – During the hours when there is more traffic, users can request to get added to the waiting list in advance.
6. Panic Button – To ensure that riders are readily available in times of emergency, this feature will up your games by 10x.
7. Fare calculator: It is always a thumb of the rule to provide your user with an accurate estimation of the cab ride fare charges before they proceed to book a ride.
8. Reviews and ratings: Being the most important feature of establishing a two-way communication to increase customer satisfaction by working on the feedback on any part of the service.
9. Messaging: An important feature that you cannot imagine mobile apps like Uber without is the direct messaging to contact the driver.
10. Payment: The payment gateway must provide the user with the pricing quotation that they can securely pay through the different variations: credit cards, cashless-in-app payment, or Paypal.
11. Push notifications: This enables the user to receive all-time information on the ride-booking such as the vehicle model, number, and color along with the status of the trip request and an estimated time of arrival.
12. Travel and ride history: A detailed travel log of all the earlier rides, receipts, car number, location, etc. that helps in re-booking the same ride destination and driver. 

Tech Stack of An App Like Uber

Without going much into the technicalities, here are a few must-have features for an app like Uber and how to implement them.

• Geolocation & Navigation: The most crucial aspect any app like Uber would be heavily tied to is the advanced mapping technologies and navigations.MapKit in iOS and Google Maps API in Android provide insightful directions to the driver and help in advanced navigation. Geolocation is the tracking feature that helps users to get a duration estimate through Location API provided by Google (Android) or CoreLocation framework (iOS).

• Push Notifications & Messaging: Communication is a highly vital element as it provides notification for important information and activities such as passenger requests, ride acceptance/cancellation, messages on the location, estimated arrival, reaching of the destination, etc. For Push Notifications, you can use Apple Push Notification Service and Google Cloud Messaging or Fiber Cloud Messaging in Android. Telecommunication providers such as Twilio, Nexmo, Plivo, and Sinch are mostly used as software integration for delivering text messages in apps like Uber. However, when these notifications and messages are not delivered due to unavailability, it is important to use the feature of SMS notifications so that the user is informed regardless of the situation.

• Payment Gateway Integration: The most crucial feature of all apps like Uber. To integrate the payment gateway with optimum speed and convenience, you must comply with country policies for data security such as PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). Tools to integrate the payment functionality, you can use Braintree, Stripe, PayPal SDK’s Apple Pay, or Google Wallet.

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Taxi App Like Uber?

No matter how great the idea may seem, eventually, everything boils down to money! The front-end development of an app like Uber takes around 310-400 hours for iOS and up to 430 hours for Android. The cost depends mostly on the per hour cost of the services ranging from $25,000 to $35,000 that may take around 7-8 months.

Everything of worth is dependent on that pricing including your UI/UX design, geolocation, payment gateway integration, personal data management, etc. 

FAQs:

How do I make a taxi booking app like Uber?

If you can develop the app on your own, focus on creating these features for the user and passenger panel:

• Registration/Login
• Geolocation and Interactive Mapping
• Pickup Requests
• Payment Gateway
• Customer Support and Service
  

How to make an app like Uber on Android?

You can make an app like Uber in Android by hiring an Android Apps Development Company or outsource the services of an app developer.

How much does it cost to build a taxi app like Uber?

The front-end development of an app like Uber takes around 310-400 hours for iOS and up to 430 hours for Android. The cost depends mostly on the per hour cost of the services ranging from $25,000 to $35,000 that may take around 7-8 months.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash