How to build a taxi-hailing app like Uber

People who live in cosmopolitan cities with busy traffic and lack of parking space, refuse to buy their car in favour of rideshare service like Uber. High demand for personal car rides makes entrepreneurs think how to make an app like Uber. Indeed, Uber-like app seems to be reasonable not only for entrepreneurs but for transport companies as well. The market of ridesharing apps has never been as full as in these recent years. New apps keep cropping up, heated by Uber and its major success, in the desire to grab a piece of a pie. Companies, those receive worldwide recognition are always going to be a role model for the ones who make their first steps to success. So if you want to create apps like Uber, it’s important to understand the company’s approaches to technology and their business process.

Below are things to know before developing an app like Uber:

Uber currently operates in 4 countries and over 80 cities providing 24 hours per day on demand connection through the Android and iOS app both parties like driver and rider are aware of each other’s location also the concerns over the car arrival time are no longer topical.

Below are the levels of Uber service which is on availability:

· UberX- Cost efficient option

· UberBLACK- Classy and chic option

· UberSUV- Size matters

· UberLUX- prime service needs no words

How Uber work?

If you want to build an app like Uber, then you should know the service works on the customer side. Below are the steps which work on general app performance.

Step1: Customer request to book a taxi through the app. Those requests are received by drivers nearby.

Step2: Driver can accept or reject the ride. If they refuse it, then the request goes to another driver.

Step3: Customer can track the taxi approach and knows the arrival time.

Step4: Cashless way of payment and the price is shown beforehand to make the process smoother for both sides.

Step5: It’s an essential element of uber’s service business logic which enhances the service.

How many apps any business needs?

If you want to build your service-haling app, then there is need of two apps which consist of driver app and riders app. Driver’s app designed for drivers partnering with the company and the rider app meant for ordinary customers who book their rides. Apart from that, the platform also consists of an admin app which is capable of managing both the platforms which work. Below is the basic and advanced feature which you can implement in the app for riders.

Primary elements of an app like Uber for customers:

Routing and geolocation

Payment integration

Registration and login

Calling or texting the driver from the app

Notification

Cost estimation

UX and UI design

Advance features:

Booking a ride in advance

Booking ride for others

Dividing the fare with companions

Primary elements of an app like Uber for drivers:

Driver’s reports

High-level route optimization

Personal profile editing

Active and Inactive option for drivers

Calling a passenger from the app

Creating daily/monthly reports of past booking and their earning

Advance features:

Driver destination

Free cancellation within a set period

Heatmaps

Admin panel is last but not least thing to consider. Admin panels are typically web-based which demand specific efforts on the part of a web development team, it should give you an overview of the business process as well as provide capabilities to manage payrolls and user data.

Cost and development insights of apps like Uber -Building an app like uber depends upon the functionality which is going to fill your app up and complexity you will bring to this functionality.

Routing and geolocation - Routing is the primary feature to consider when answering how to develop an app like Uber. Though services similar to Uber allow them to track the location of the car driver which are accepted the ride. In order to know the distance, the routing server is needed. So, from the moment customers launch the app until they get dropped off, uber’s routing engines work hard. Routing and matching mechanisms are significant portions of Uber functionalities which ensures a flawless service. So, it will be a mistake if not mention these two features when finding out uber like app development cost.

Payments - It is the next primary feature to think about when you have to create an app like Uber. Modern technologies enable a straightforward financial transaction between all the parties concerned and their benefits for riders and drivers.

Uber provides their users a fare calculator which ensures reliable estimation in an app. Fare rates of uber depend upon the service you order or the city you are into. Uber uses four main criteria to consider a fare for the ride which is given below:

· Basic fare
· Cost per mile
· Cost per minute
· Safe rides fee

Registration and profile - Registration and profile are essential for two reasons. The first reason is to keep track of your all user base, and then your user base gets access to the full-fledged service. For creating apps similar to uber, you need to offer your, customer, a quick registration via social media or email. Additionally, it Is a great idea to add a rating and reviewing system, which will help to make a service little more client-oriented by letting users know if the driver is as low rate and vice versa.

Notifications - Communication and notifications are the essential features which should be considered to make a taxi app. Even though communication in ridesharing apps goes without saying. With this feature, Uber riders can call or text their driver even without leaving the app. SMS, email or push notification can help the customer to be informed about important events like order confirmation or cab arrival.

Cost estimation - Cost estimation feature helps to know the approximate cost of the ride even before they book it. A developer should build an algorithm for estimating the price based on a location of rider pickup and drop.

UI/UX design - A major portion of app development costs falls on design. Taxi sharing services are client-oriented, and so they have to come with easy to use UI/UX.

How to build and apps like Uber for Driver and their main feature:

Driver report - Driver report feature helps to ensure the safety of both the parties such as drivers and passenger. It is a brief outline covering of driving style of the driver for a certain timeframe. If the incidents of driving in a careless manner take place and its continue to happen, uber even ban the driver who violates the rules.

Route building - Route building function is inevitable. The better route optimization, the more efficient your driver will become along with that the level of customer satisfaction tends to increase.

Free cancellation charge within 2 minutes - Given feature help to reduce the time and money which arise when a customer abandons or delays the booked ride. It is one of the significant features for a taxi-hailing app development since it doesn’t only minimize the risks for a driver but also help to increase business as well.

Heat Maps - Heat maps help to simplify the work of a driver. A driver can see the parts of the city with the highest demand for the service, which allows to generating more profit for themselves and the company.

Factors which influence the uber app development:

There are few more things which should be taken into the account while creating an app like Uber.

App Platform - Which platform to choose? However, the answer is straightforward if you want your app to widely used then prefer both Android and iOS. Both the platforms depend on your target audience and their preferences.

Technology - It is more reasonable to develop a native app rather than a hybrid one in many cases. The significant difference between them is architecture, programming language. If you are not from a technical background, then it’s a good idea to consult with a proficient mobile development service provider before creating an app.

Feature - A group of feature depends upon the decisive factor and its price. So, the development cost will raise depending on the primary and advanced features you choose to implement in your taxi-hailing app.

So, for summing up the cost of the Uber taxi app, it highly depends on the various factors and your preferences. According to our measures, the time it takes to build a taxi app including driver and rider is somewhat near to 160 hours and the cost depends on your service provider hourly rates which s from $4,000 – $25/per hour.