Introduction
Earlier, passengers used to hire taxi services or cabs for traveling. Travelers spent lots of time searching for a cab or taxi service. Finding a reliable service and visiting any location was a tiresome and hectic process.
Nowadays, the situation is completely different. The advent of on-demand taxi apps has made travelers’ journeys easy and affordable. People using such apps can schedule or book a cab or taxi facility at their doorsteps and at any time. Drivers are registered with apps, ensuring a reliable service to travelers.
It is also profitable for investors looking for lucrative business opportunities. They can invest in such apps and generate an everlasting income. How is it the best option for business owners? The app will connect taxi drivers and passengers, and the admin (business owners) will get a commission for every service delivered.
We are presenting the case study of an on-demand taxi app. It comprises all the requirements needed for the overall development of an app.
Detailed Guide to Taxi Booking App
The on-demand taxi app is built for mobile phones. Besides the mobile solution, the app should be responsive to adjusting on multiple devices. Besides the standard functions, the app should have the maps and location-sharing feature. The information given in the case study delivers the complete idea for the development of an app like Uber.
- Importance of Market Research
This is the foremost step to be considered for app development. In the next step, you will have to find competitors and target audience. There are many advantages to competitors’ analysis. Business owners can find competitors’ drawbacks and improve and implement them in their businesses. They can also emulate compelling features or ideas of competitors. Business analysts are experts who can help you in market research.
- Design
The design considerations and navigation should be easy-to-use so that one can easily get access to the app. Developers might take about three to four days for primitive development.
- Developmental Task for Front End
The development of the front end is tedious and costly. Now, tech-savvy will have to develop handy features and choose the right technology stack. Here are some must-have features to be added to the app.
- Location Services: Location data is enabled through the use of APIs. It is possible to quickly implement this feature. Google Maps APIs and Google Places APIs are suitable for Android apps while the core location is appropriate for iOS. The whole process to enable location services will take around fifty to sixty hours.
- Timers: Apps like Lyft use custom timers that show a countdown to users while booking a cab. It will take around fifty to seventy hours for creating and adding this feature.
- Payment Option: Users will have to pay for opting services, and every customer wants to pay as per their preference. Therefore, different payment options have to be added. A software solution will be designed so that users can choose multiple payment options and pay securely. It must comply with PCI DSS. Further, experts have to integrate the software with multiple payment gateways. This is the best way to create an efficient system. Experts need more than 100 hours for the accomplishment of this task.
- Profile Creation: Developers have to create separate profiles for users and drivers so that customers and drivers can access individually and manage their work. There should be variations in the dashboard. The main layout that users access will comprise contact details, ratings, and other options. Also focus to create user-friendly authorization (login through social media platforms, phone numbers, and email). Developers will take 120 hours to complete this task.
Besides the above features, below are some common and useful functions to be added to the app.
- Multilingual and Multi-currency: The multi-currency and multilingual support is added in apps to target a wide audience. The support of multiple languages will target users from different countries while the multi-currency support will help users to pay in their native currency. The time duration to add this feature is a hundred hours.
- Rating and Reviews: This is one of the most important features of a taxi app like Uber. Developers have to create an efficient tool for quality management. Include a rating system so that users can give detailed feedback. The recommended time to establish this system is sixty to eighty hours.
- In-app Call Assistance: This is one of the advanced features of this app. It is significantly enhancing the customers’ experience. Implementing this feature might take twenty hours.
- Choose Monetization Techniques
Business owners need to choose the best methods to monetize software solutions. There are some tips and tricks for monetization. For example, advertisement blocks. Another method of monetization is in-app purchases. The process may take around twenty to thirty hours for the establishment.
Note: The technology stack should be selected to develop cloned apps, i.e., experts will have to create individual apps for users and service providers. Apps will be designed for Android and iOS platforms; therefore, the requirements for the front end will be double.
- Developmental Task for Backend
Software solutions for backend should be responsive and are created to target more audience. As drivers move at an increased pace, the chances of complications become high. Therefore, developers have to distribute the load between multiple services and processes in the cloud architecture. To complete the developmental task, tech-savvy will need four hours.
- Testing
Testing is an important process to test the efficiency of an app. Either alpha or beta testing is recommended for the loading of apps on Google Play. Thus, testers only can access the app. Such facilities are not recommended for the app store. App developers use the self-created beta testing tool. The testing procedure needs two to four months.
- Launch
It is important to launch an app so that it can gain recognition. There are some tips to promote the app. AI-based algorithms are used by tech-savvy for better optimization of search results.
The apps downloaded decide their rank in the app or play store. This is why you need a marketing campaign. This is why app owners want marketing specialists. Many companies are available to provide app development solutions as well as app marketing solutions.
- Technical Assistance
Even though an app is tested successfully, there are some bugs associated with it. It is neither developers fault nor testers’. It is not possible to find and eliminate bugs in time. This is the reason why apps are regularly updated.
We have discussed how to create a taxi app. Even though the tools and software available for complete development, every company need dedicated professionals who can build such apps.