Uber Business Model – Apps like Uber 2025

If you are following the transportation industry narrowly or maybe working in it, you must be aware of how Uber has grown into a revolutionary transport system all in front of us. Bringing a compelling business model and advanced mobile technology together – every feature, every gesture of its offerings, make it an inspiration to many in the domain of commutation utility. And why not, the world is mesmerized by the flawless app communication it puts forth, seamlessly connecting users with its transportation services. And most of them dream to look up to that savor of achievement it has set open. But what stop them are the apprehensions and doubts about the cost of building a taxi app like Uber. Are you one of those?

So, we are here to bring an end to all these blocks and hassles to clear your way towards a smooth levelheaded judgment towards having an Uber app of yours.

How Does Uber Work?

Uber in a transport utility app dedicated to a cab-hiring business model. You can essentially split up the entire idea or process of the service into 5 core functions:

Request

Cab transportation service is requested instantly or on schedule via the app. Nearest driver receives the request details

Matching

Based on the details driver may either accept or reject the ride. If rejected, the request is sent to another driver in the proximity

Ride

The user tracks the route cab is travelling through and knows the estimated time of arrival

Payment

Payment (generally cashless) is processed once the ride is completed based on the time-specific tariff. The fare could be tracked in real-time as the ride starts

Rating

For driver and passenger both. An important functional component which emphasizes on ride quality and enhances service reliability

10 Top Taxi Booking Apps like Uber

 

Essential Features to Build Apps like Uber

In order to build taxi apps like Uber, you need to have all above-mentioned features in place. Let’s dig into these components to know what all it takes in terms of efforts and skills and how much it costs to build an app like Uber.

1. GPS maps and routes drawing

An app like Uber is more about GPS. You see it working all on maps – to track where the cabs are, your location, and again their movements – all of which is facilitated through a real-time routing. So, the first things you require here is maps and positioning, supporting all the calculation for the ride, being linked with the routing server. Just like Google Maps for Android.

Efforts: Geo-location, real-time tracking, route aggregation, trip calculation through routes 120+ hours

2. Registration

Just think about 3-4 apps you have seen in this genre. They all offer different types of registration options to let you connect with the app through a profile (both for users and drivers). For drivers, the process further gets a bit denser with verification factors like scanned credentials and other listing obligations coming into the scene.

Efforts: Sign-ins (email, social media, phone), authorization 30+ hours

3. Matching system

The matching system connects a particular user with a certain driver (identifiable due to registration). Technically, a user profile requests service from a particular location and this is matched by a driver profile in the proximity. This allows you to identify a car by number, drive’s name and a connected phone number which is unique to each provider. This further allows the driver to either accept or decline the ride-request in a particular time-frame.
Some of the services even allow you to choose a driver from the available options, which further makes the feature more detailed, which demands more effort and time.

Efforts: View listing, request matching, proximity validation, profile identification 60+ hours

4. Notifications and communication

Well, this is vital for everything your app is and deals in. From intimating user about the cab arrival and sending them service updates to sending promotional offers from time to time – notifications are everywhere.

The most common types are SMS or Push notifications. And in order to customize them to user delight, you need to implement smart texting features working closely with your telecommunication provider. You can choose among services like Plivo, Nexmo, Sinch and Twilio (the one used by Uber) to get this facility on board.

Efforts: SMS and Push Notifications 30+hours

5. Payment System

One of the most crucial parts of your app – Payment system needs to be pinned with faster, safer and validated methods, whether cash-based or cashless or both. Usually, you would like to have cashless as a priority, as it goes well with booking services like this – which allows you to put into offering user wallet combined with credit points and coupon system.

As for Uber, you have Paypal, American Express points, as well as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, with different credit and debit card options to go with. To apply payment features you can select from a host of options like Braintree, WorldPay, Stripe and Payza. These services should cost you integration fees along with monthly charges.

One thing not to miss – consider in-app tip feature on your list of must-haves when working for US market.

Efforts: Payment Gateway Integration, Add/scan card, Get Price 100+ hours

6. Vehicle and User details

In a service like this, you look for most of safety and assurance. Before you select to go with an option (applies to both drivers and passengers), you would like to have details about the whos and whats of that ride. The more you get that the more convinced and relaxed you are.

Besides properly placed vehicle details, that calls for driver and passenger details with photo. This could be further enriched by assigning loyalty/familiarity grades to profiles. Like what you see with Sidecar. You can even make it more ride-friendly by allowing users to communicate additional details like stopovers and route preferences while booking the service.

Efforts: Profile (editable) with personal details, transaction history, wallet details 40+ hours

7. Rating System

To be able to add more relevance to your service value, you need to implement a rating system for both driver and passenger. This should allow both the parties to rate each other once the ride gets over. This has a far-reaching effect on enhancing ride experience through a two-way quality control. One that allows passengers to rate the driver with which a low rating can even lead to discontinuation of association with the company. Another one is where a driver can rate passenger with respect to behavior and adherence to rules – which prompts fellow drivers to choose not to accept their request in future.

With this feature, a strong community of drivers and passengers can be built which helps the company expand in its value propositions besides exercising great control over quality.

Efforts: Review and rating 20+ Hours

Final Cost

So the question remains, how much does it cost to build apps like Uber with all above mentioned features in place? Well, as per a general notion and considering all the details of it, taxi app development for one platform should take about 400-500 hours. Add 150 hours of design (App wireframe, UI design, UX design) to it which makes it 550-650 hours in total. To calculate the cost, multiply this time-range with the resource fees. Which could be anywhere from $20 to $30.

The API will cost you $10k and an app for one platform from around $11k to $20k depending upon your choice of service and the iterations and variations it is being tried upon with. Adding features other than these, like weather updates, emergency help or just any additional utility, should add on to this cost.

Uber Business Model: Revenue and Usage Statistics

Uber is one of the most popular and oldest ride sharing app that helps users to order private or shared cabs. Payments are deducted from consumer’s bank account (according to chosen methods of payments, or can also be paid in cash after rise is completed). Services are lined up at economic prices that are considerably lower than adjoining counterparts. Uber has been playing havoc across major cities, disdaining the rule book by being pertinacious throughout its inception days.

Despite all the marketing and challenges, Uber successfully got its name listed among top 50 disruptors globally, according to a report by CNBC in 2018.

Many of its diversifications like Food ordering and delivery (Uber Eats) have been hugely successful and are working around in almost all major cities around the world. Spreading its core offerings, Uber has been architecting peer-to-peer businesses like UberPop, UberPool, UberChopper etc.

Uber Business Model: How Does Uber Make Money?

Uber is a premier ride-sharing company based in San Fransisco. It started as a smartphone application and featured cars from a bigger segment with a definite high price, which are gradually reduced by the introduction of UberX program – share cabs (Pool, UberGo, Premier) at a much lower price. The company earns by charging from its clients (billed to their credit card) and advertisements.

A network service is used to manage all the elements involved in this service. Matching the ride and payments to the driver are handled via an optimization algorithm. Optimization of time and fuel is one of the major consideration, in addition to making the ride pleasant for the users.

With reasonable ride options like Uber Pool, sharing rides in real-time fills empty seats and help people heading towards a common destination, those who choose a common route in routine travel and subsequently saves a lot of fuel. This is considered effective as it helps to decrease on traffic on road and promotes a cleaner environment.

See Also: Car rental apps like Turo

Apps like Uber: Key Success Factors

Building apps like Uber can be complicated, with varied features, varied platforms, varied industries – It has always tried a new industry, established a niche for itself and have earned its name as most useful service providers’ on-demand. Along with extensive efforts, Uber has been in the forefront because it has strategized its efforts logically and has achieved audience’ trust in the process. The two most important things that make it ahead in the competition are: Recruiting the drivers and executing the process.

If users get their cabs within 2 minutes of placing the order, it is almost difficult to switch away from that service towards an alternative option. The ability to get drivers and the volume of business that they can get to these drivers are the two premier success factors in promoting Uber.

The tactics and efforts to recruit Uber drivers differ in every part of the world. Having everything happening in the backend from GPS, payment systems, navigation, and mapping, engineers have made it the largest technology company in Silicon Valley.

The choice of business models has made Uber drivers busier as compared to normal taxi drivers.

Get Through: Why Create Apps like Uber?

Uber services persist in 65 different countries and in over 600 cities worldwide. It has a funding of $13.1 billion and is been valued at $69.6 billion. Around 15 million Uber trips are completed every day (tentatively). Uber has been extending its efforts to make people realize, less of a need to own a car and instead purchasing rides. Having disrupted industries like – Public transportation, taxi and limousine services, their services have impacted society in many different ways. This is the reason why Uber thought of expanding its efforts and try their hands into diversified industries. Some of these include Uber ice cream services, bbq, and roses for Valentine’s Day besides other on-demand services. App development agencies have deployed artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous vehicles as special technologies to implement apps like Uber.

Normal Ride-hailing apps are developed in Native iOS/Objective C and Android/Node.js

The backend is normally developed in Node.js, Redis (Taxi Booking, Queue Management) and MongoDB.

If you are in an about-face that is raising many questions, drop a query and our experts will reply at earliest.