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As Uber introduced the concept of ridesharing around the world, it took off and turned out to be a large success around all corners.
The global ride-sharing market size was valued at 85.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The market is expected to reach 185 billion U.S. dollars in 2026 following a growth of over 115%. (Statista)
Image credit: Statista
Many leading cab booking platforms, including Lyft, Grab, Ola, Careem, GoJek, and so many others are now offering carpooling services to their customers to make commuting easier.
Is this industry also appealing to you? Trying to figure out how to get a profit out of this industry by leveraging its potential?
Throughout this blog, you will learn about some of the best ride share apps and how you can create an application similar to them for your business.
So, let’s get started.
Rideshare apps serve the role of bridging the gap between riders going in the same direction, allowing them to share a ride between themselves.
By doing so, two people will be able to make use of the same cab for the same trip, thereby reducing the ride costs for both.
Furthermore, carpooling apps not only save you money but also affect the environment positively.
Let’s take the example of Uber car sharing to gain a better understanding of carpooling app:
This is how Uber carpooling works.
If you have plans to build a ridesharing app; it is advisable to know different types of best rideshare apps. Knowing these types of applications will help you to understand which is the best-suited type you should develop:
In peer-to-peer ridesharing apps, car owners will give their cars on rent for a short period. In this model, the passengers are drivers too. People do not prefer using public transportation, so they better take a car to rent for such usage.
It is an on-demand service, where the passengers will request rides and car owners will either accept or reject the bookings based on their convenience. The drivers and passengers do not have the same route sharing or destination. Here the passengers will look for the driver and pay them for the specific travel execution.
Carpooling apps are the ones, where passengers share the tip with drivers and equally divide the cost of transportation. It acts as a mediator app between drivers and passengers; where the users continue to travel with a driver who is heading in the same direction, and later equally split the fuel, transportation, and other costs.
If you are considering creating a ride-hailing app, it is very important to check out the current market progress that’s being received by the app before you begin the journey.
Here we have shared a few states that represent the growth of ride-hailing apps in the market:
With every passing day, the amount of revenue generated byride sharing apps is increasing. According to a report published in Statista, the revenue from the ride-hailing segment was valued at US$276.40bn in 2022. There is a strong prospect of growth for the market owing to several factors, including cost-effectiveness. It is expected that by 2027, the market will have reached US$378.80 billion, reflecting a CAGR of 6.51%.
Amid the promising market response, the development of ride-hailing apps has emerged as a lucrative investment to build a future-proof business that has long-term prospects.
A ridesharing app segment is predicted to reach 1,452.8m users in 2027, an increase from 1,279.2m users in 2022, according to a report from Statista.
Image credit: Statista
Almost 55% of the carpooling segment’s annual revenue is predicted to be generated through online channels, such as mobile applications and websites, which account for most of the revenue (Statista). In a nutshell, any business in the transportation industry cannot afford to lose its presence on the internet if it expects to sustain itself in the future. Developing a mobile app is the best way to offer your cab booking services to your targeted customers easily and efficiently.
The Chinese market is the largest market for carpooling apps worldwide, with revenues of US$102.60bn generated in 2022. In the ride-hailing sector, the United States is currently the largest economy by far.
Ride share apps are experiencing rapid growth and becoming more competitive. Companies need to implement unique features to be able to stand out in the highly competitive market and compete successfully.
Here we have outlined the different trends you need to pay attention to stay competitive:
This is one of the best features that every carpooling app should have.
Many operations within the application rely on geolocation information as the basis for their execution. Whether it be finding the shortest route to reach the rider’s pickup and destination location or finding another companion to share a ride with, geolocation can help the app perform all these things precisely.
As the AI revolution spreads to every sector, ridesharing apps like Uber aren’t left behind.
Using artificial intelligence (AI), these applications provide accurate driver routes that can result in cost reductions and reduce commute times for drivers.
By integrating AI into the system, it is also possible to provide a personalized user experience for the users by collecting information related to their behavior.
Safety is one of the most important concerns in the world today. As a result, Uber and other leading giants are undertaking various steps to guarantee people’s safety.
Anomaly detection is one of the most essential features adopted by Uber to detect suspicious drivers in the due time. If the driver takes an unusual route, makes prolonged stops, or ends the journey in a different location than what was originally planned. As a result, the app sends both the rider and the driver an immediate notification to verify that everything is okay.
When a rider encounters an unfortunate event, an Uber safety pop-up will appear on their screen allowing them to contact the Uber safety line.
Do you ever wonder how Uber identifies matching rides and assigns them to the same cab to make its rideshare system as effective as possible? It is machine learning algorithms that are driving the Uber ridesharing app.
Using machine learning technology in ride-sharing apps like Uber is far more advanced than that.
Uber also uses machine learning to make decisions about which passengers to pick up first and drop off first. Furthermore, extreme weather conditions or a high demand for taxis result in elevated prices. In such cases to calculate the elevated price, Uber relies on the machine-learning-powered surge pricing algorithm.
A leading online cab booking app, Lyft, also uses machine learning to understand historical data about users to optimize routes, determine driver availability and offer competitive prices.
The potential of machine learning technology is limitless in the context of rideshare app development. Therefore following these trends will help you make your application more user-centric.
Be it Uber or Lyft, the majority of the best ride share apps are on the cusp of adopting electric vehicles to provide customers with sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation options.
Now as you are thinking of rideshare mobile application development, you mustn’t forget the importance of building a fleet of electric vehicles so that you can remain competitive in the new era of the mobility industry.
| Features | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Ride Booking | Users can book rides for now or later. They can schedule rides according to their schedule |
| Tracking | Riders can track the drivers. They can check on their location, their movements, arrival time, and other real-time tracking |
| Real-time ride tracking & sharing | The users can track their rides when the driver is coming, and even when they are on the ride. Even more, the riders can share their location with family and friends. |
| Split the fare | The drivers can split the fare in sharing with their partners |
| Multiple pick-up and drop-off locations | The riders can book rides with multiple pick-up and drop locations |
| Multiple Payment Gateways | These ridesharing apps are featured with multiple payment gateways; so the riders can book one as per their preferences. |
| Trip History & Ratings | The riders can cross-check their previous rides, and also rate & share feedback about their rides and drivers. |
| Chat Support | The application will provide you with in-app chat support to clear all your doubts and resolve queries in real-time |
| Features | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Profile Management | It is the basis of rideshare driver apps, where the drivers have to manage their profiles with details; adding & changing details about their vehicles, password set-ups, updating personal details, and adding driver’s licenses. |
| Earnings | The drivers can track their daily income, monthly income, and total earnings. It helps the drivers to improve their services. |
| Auto-Off | When the drivers are not active, the application turns to auto-off without intimidation. |
| Daily Report | The drivers will get their daily report of rides, services they offer, and entire reporting on a daily basis. |
| Ratings & Reviews | Not only the riders are facilitated with reviews and feedback features, but also the drivers can rate their riding experience with their passengers. |
| Navigation | The rideshare apps will provide routes for the drivers to reach their passengers on time. Also, the feature enables the drivers to get |
| Features | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Schedules requests | Administrators have access to all the scheduled requests, selected payment methods, and destinations. |
| Driver’s Status | The administrators can access and track the driver’s location and details online & offline in the rideshare app. |
| Vehicle Management | The admins have the authority to manage vehicles according to the driver’s availability and orders received. |
| User’s Reviews | The administrator has the power to rate and review drivers and riders. |
| Tracking Drivers | The GPS Services allow the admins to track drivers and other possible details. |
| Menu for the Partners | The taxi business administrators have the right to add and delete their partner’s information. Also, the admins can access the partner’s details; such as contact information, emails, names, etc. |
| Earnings | The admins can access and check the total earnings of the application, and also filter the data using different parameters, most profitable drivers, and their details. |
| Type of Services | The administrators can showcase vehicle types to the customers for the satisfaction of riders. Also, the admins will mention names, descriptions, and other important things for the passenger’s and driver’s content. |
There has been an increase in the number of people looking at ridesharing applications, which has led to more competition in the market. According to IBISWorld, the USA is home to more than 2,117,510 Taxi & Limousine Services businesses.
While there has been an increase in competition among car-sharing apps in recent years, there are only a handful of leading apps that have been able to secure prominent positions in both the national and international markets over the years.
Here we have compiled a list of the best ride share apps that are growing worldwide and creating inspiration for startups:
| Sr. No. | Top Rideshare Apps | Founding Year | Country of Origin | Rating | Downloads | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uber | 2009 | USA | 4.7 | 500M+ | $ 31.8 billion |
| 2 | Lyft | 2012 | USA | 4 | 50M+ | $ 4.1 billion |
| 3 | DiDi | 2012 | China | 4.2 | 50M+ | $ 20.37 billion |
| 4 | Cabify | 2011 | Spain | 3.9 | 10M+ | $ 683.8 million |
| 5 | Curb | 2007 | USA | 2.9 | 1M+ | $ 21.4 million |
| 6 | BlaBlaCar | 2006 | France | 4.3 | 50M+ | $ 85.7 million |
| 7 | Bolt | 2013 | Estonia | 4.7 | 50M+ | $ 23 Million |
| 8 | Careem | 2012 | Dubai | 4.3 | 10M+ | AED 52.4 billion |
| 9 | Ola | 2010 | India | 4.1 | 100M+ | 5 Billion |
| 10 | inDrive | 2012 | Russia | 4.6 | 100M+ | $10 million |
Image Credit: Uber Technologies
Uber a San Francisco-based company, which had its genesis in 2009, has grown into a global giant, operating in more than 10,000 cities and over 80 countries around the world, and has been serving millions of customers.
As per a report by GlobalData, Uber technologies generated an estimated $8,073 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2022, which represents an increase from $6,854 million made in 2021.
The Uber platform currently serves more than 122 million active users around the world, as of October 2022. (Investorsking)
With Uber’s strong emphasis on rider safety, they have made it very convenient for riders to find their ride by tapping on the Uber app on their smartphones.
It is a commitment by Uber that by 2040 it will have converted into a 100% emission-free platform, with 100% of rides taking place in electric or hybrid vehicles, with no emissions.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Lyft, Inc.
A business venture that began in 2012 with a vision of improving the travel system and making it safer and more convenient for the riders, has since grown into a household name among the citizens of the United States and Canada.
There are more than 656 cities throughout the United States and Canada where Lyft rides are available.
Approximately 31% of the U.S. ride-hailing market is accounted for by Lyft, which is ranked second in the U.S. by Statista.
Moreover, Lyft’s annual revenue is averaging $2.36 billion in 2021, which is the result of the company’s 12.5 million active users.
Key Features:
Image credit: DiDi
Founded in 2012, DiDi has been popularly known as the Chinese version of Uber since it was founded in China.
With the passage of time, DiDi has managed to expand its operations across 400 cities in 18+ countries by offering convenient and affordable rides to its customers. (Wikipedia)
DiDI -Best ride sharing app is not only a transportation company but also offers a wide range of other services such as food delivery, intra-city freight, and financial services.
In May 2022, DiDi alone recorded around 78 thousand downloads in Australia, making it the most popular app in the country.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Cabify
Cabify was established in 2011 in Spain to provide people with the service of hiring a private cab to move around the city.
It’s now become a global rideshare app that has expanded its reach to over 40+ cities across 8 countries worldwide, resulting in an estimated 42 million registered users by 2022, according to the company.
Cabify has set a target to have a 100% electric fleet by the end of the year 2025 in Europe and 2030 in Latam.
The company not only offers taxis but also allows users to send and receive packages from and to their place of residence conveniently.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Curb Mobility, LLC
The Curb taxi app was launched in 2016 in 65 US cities, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, and Washington, DC. Customers can request rides and pay using contactless payments.
A partnership between Curb and Uber was also formed in order to offer US riders more transportation options than they currently have.
The number of taxis associated with Curb is approximately 50,000, and it is estimated that approximately 10 million tips are distributed on Curb each month.
Key Features:
Image Credit: BlaBlaCar
The company BlaBlaCar opened its doors in 2006 and is serving as a bridge between drivers and passengers who are willing to travel together as a way of sharing the cost of travel.
The BlaBlaCar ridesharing app has amassed over 100 million users worldwide from more than 22 countries, making it a worldwide community of people looking to share rides.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Bolt Technology
It was founded in 2013 to offer Estonians a fast and affordable mode of transportation for their transportation needs.
Bolt is a growing rideshare app that is constantly expanding its operations. Currently, the app is available in more than 150 cities in more than 35 countries around the world.
The application offers a wide range of services other than ridesharing, such as food & grocery delivery, scooter rentals, and car sharing.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Careem
Founded in 2012, Careem has established itself as one of the leading names in the field of ride-hailing in Dubai.
Careem is more than just a ride sharing app, it also offers a broad range of services such as food delivery, online shopping, recharges, and many more.
With its roots in Dubai, Careem has grown into a global business that operates in over 100 cities across 14 countries.
Careem boasted a global community of 48 million users as of November 2021, according to data from the app’s developers. The Careem app was acquired by Uber in 2020.
Key Features:
Image Credit: Ola
The company was founded in 2010 and has become one of the most iconic names in the Indian cab industry.
With a commitment to make riding the easiest and safest way possible, Ola was able to expand into 250+ cities in India, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.
Key Features:
Image Credit: SUOL INNOVATIONS LTD
Founded in 2013, inDrive was started with the vision of giving the rider control over the cost of online. A rider can share the travel requirements they require and the price they think is reasonable for fulfilling those requirements and the driver would accept the request.
By December 2022, the inDrive app has garnered more than 150 million users. There are more than 700 cities across 47 countries where the app is available.
Key Features:
Waze Carpool is an application, where the riders and the drivers both can share their rides with each other to work or school. This app works in the UK, Israel, and Brazil. This application is different from other ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, because it won’t ask drivers to pay for anything, and also won’t demand commissions on rides. Waze is intended to share the cost of drivers by finding the right and suitable riders for them.
This application matches riders and drivers via matching their profiles, mutual friends, star ratings, and customizable filters (co-workers, gender, classmates, and relatable).
Key features:
Wingz is a San Francisco-based start-up company that serves transportation services from and to the airport, similar to ride share apps. Besides providing airport rides; the business serves around-town rides in certain selected sites. Wingz is currently working in almost 16 metro area cities with nearly 22 airports. Moreover, users can book rides 2 months prior, and there will be no hidden charges behind such bookings.
Do you know why Wingz is the most popular application? Riders can choose and pick their favorite drivers. Moreover, the company promises to riders that the services offered by Wingz will be less expensive compared to limos or taxis.
Key Features
Via is one best alternative to other ride-sharing apps; which facilitate taxi and ride-sharing services within 20+ countries. In 6 countries; Via is working directly. On the contrary, the company has tied up in partnership with other 14 countries. The noticeable feature of Via is that; it enables the consumers to find rides from their nearby areas or to connect them with the drivers about to cross their ways between.
The service from Via is very inexpensive and quicker; therefore it is the most popular among the customers. Moreover, operating Via is also too easy. One can easily navigate on the user-friendly app, and find suitable ridesharing options within the estimated budget.
Key Features
Heetch is one friendly, yet professionally best rideshare apps for drivers, where it offers VTC, LVC, and taxi services in different countries. This ride sharing app will provide you with transport services, even when the public transit lets people down. This app is the most preferable among the drivers; because it provides good commissions on every ride compared to others. One can choose their favorite method from multiple payment gateways available.
Do you know why this ride-hailing app is so famous? The reason behind this is its late-night services. If you ended your clubbing party night 2-3 AM late, don’t worry because Heetch got your back with full safety measures. This application provides safer rides late at night to party lovers. Moreover, it is the application that saves your time & money. It gets you to find VTC, taxis, and LVC in minimal seconds.
Key Features:
GoKid is a kid carpooling, best ride sharing apps that has set up its headquarters in New York City and operates in 25+ countries. It is a great start-up idea, which has lifted its growth in the marketplace; because Uber and Lyft have some restrictions on rideshare with minors. It is a great invention that has resolved the problems of busy parents. Now parents can help their kids in ridesharing, and peacefully handle their workflow.
No doubt, parents also get stuck and get afraid of sending their kids through the ridesharing options. GoKid is one digital media platform that connects parents with other families, who are already connected with the platform to reduce the risk factors and fear thoughts from their parents’ heads.
Key Features:
Now let’s come to the step-by-step guide on ride sharing app development:
What led to the concept of developing a taxi booking app like Uber in the first place? Uber was born out of the people’s needs that were identified by Uber founders.
In San Francisco, there were no mobile apps that allowed people to book a cab conveniently until Uber came along.
Today, ride-hailing applications have undergone a complete transformation. People nowadays have many options available to them through their smartphones that make it easy for them to book a cab while on the go.
Thus, startups aspiring to develop ride sharing apps must develop an understanding of the market they intend to enter.
By understanding the market, startups can find the gaps in the current market and differentiate themselves from their competitors by effectively filling those gaps.
The features are the most important differentiators between all of the ride-hailing apps on the market that offer the same service.
As a starting point, you need to brainstorm to find the most unique features that you can offer to your target audience. Understand their needs and offer them tailored features to attract them to your application.
In the sphere of mobile app development, two major platforms are available to choose from Android and iOS.
With 2 billion users and a 71.35% market share, Android is the most popular mobile operating system worldwide (Statista). This race is also being contested by iOS.
There are approximately 1.2 billion iPhone users worldwide as of 2022.
As Android and iPhone users reach ever-increasing numbers, overstating your presence on any of these platforms might be detrimental to your revenue and reach.
Developing native applications separately for Android and iOS will lead to excessive development costs and resource requirements.
An effective way for your business to showcase its presence across Android and iOS is through cross-platform app development frameworks.
In terms of what they do, these frameworks utilize the concept of using the same codebase for the development of applications across different platforms.
Among the most popular cross-platform frameworks that are being used today are Flutter, React Native, Ionic, and Xamarin.
Before you build the complete product, would you like to see how the market reacts to your idea? Would you like to hear users’ feedback so that you can implement user-centric improvements to your app?
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach is always recommended if you wish to minimize the amount of time and effort wasted by testing how your product will be received by the market before building the complete product.
Likewise, MVP is your go-to solution if you only have limited resources at your disposal. As an alternative to creating an entire app, you can create one with only the features that you think potential investors will find useful.
As per the Intel developer’s zone, 71% of users tend to uninstall apps that are unstable and unreliable as a result of their underperformance.
It is therefore essential to ensure that your application remains stable and reliable in order to maintain its presence in the targeted audience.
The testing process comes into play here. The rideshare application needs to be evaluated by an experienced team of quality assurance professionals to ensure that it performs as expected on various devices for which it is intended.
If you are pleased with how your application has performed after it has been tested, the next step would be to have your app published on the app stores.
As stated above, the development of a ride share app is a multi-step process. Every step in the process plays a crucial role in determining the cost of ride share app development.
Here we have given you an overview of the different factors that determine the cost:
This is one of the most important factors. A team of US and UK app developers would have a higher cost than hiring a team of developers from other countries like India and Ukraine.
The average hourly cost of mobile app developers from the United Kingdom hovers between £17.95/hour to £30.77/hour.
App developers in the USA are considered to be one of the most expensive in the world. The average hourly price of developers is estimated at $47.50/hour.
Nevertheless, India is in the process of becoming one of the most cost-efficient places to outsource app developers. The average hourly price of Indian app developers ranges somewhere between ₹150.00/hour to ₹744.97/hour.
Mobile app developers’ price comparison country-wise will help you find the best team of app developers that will fit within your budget in order to take your project to the next level.
If the app is complex, then it is likely that development costs will be higher. An app development that is complex will require a greater number of experienced resources, which will add to the cost of developing this app.
The cost will vary depending on your selection of app development platforms like Android/iOS or cross-platform.
A dependency on ridesharing apps has become more obvious over the years as the number of people who rely on them increases. A good way to join the bandwagon of this growing economy is by partnering with an app development company that will be able to help you translate your vision into reality.
Konstant Infosolutions has established itself in the field of technology for more than two decades. Through a fusion of client-centric innovation and technology, we are able to provide our clients with a solution that enables them to move forward. Having a good understanding of transportation and automotive solutions development allows us to create a full-featured rideshare app that meets your needs.
Car-sharing apps like Uber opts for multiple methods to make money. One of the primary ways these apps make money is by charging commissions on rides that drivers receive through their applications.
The process of creating a rideshare app can be outlined in the following 5 steps:
When it comes to top car-sharing apps in the USA, Uber and Lyft are the two most prominent players that hold the majority of the market share.
As far as developing a carpooling app is concerned, there is no fixed timeframe for this particular project since every project requirement differs from one project to the next. It is best to consult with the ride share app development company along with your requirements to get the cost estimation.
The essential features of a ride sharing app include user registration and login, driver registration, ride booking and payment processing, real-time tracking, messaging, rating and review system, and customer support.
The cost of building a ride sharing application depends on several factors, such as the complexity of the app, the features you want to include, the platform you want to build for, and the development team’s hourly rates.
The technologies used to build a rideshare app include programming languages such as Java, Swift, Kotlin, and Python, backend technologies such as Node.js and PHP, and databases such as MySQL and MongoDB.
The best practices for building a ride sharing app include conducting thorough market research, choosing the right app development team, creating a user-friendly interface, implementing robust security measures, optimizing the app for speed and performance, and conducting rigorous testing and debugging.
Being indulged in the IT industry for more than 3+ years, I aim to offer up-to-date and latest knowledge on different technologies and trends setting the market. This is what I love to do. When I'm not working, I like to be near the outdoors surrounded by greenery.
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