Taxi apps are a good option for an entrepreneur still determining which segment to focus on, especially in emerging markets. While the cost to make a taxi app similar to Uber may be an essential factor, the return on investments in this segment has been going through the roof lately. The door is open for a taxi booking service that can dispatch rides automatically or manually and serve corporate travelers. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Let's talk about what services are in the most significant demand, what the Uber-like app provides, and what you'll need in your app to get five stars.
In the last decade, cities worldwide have seen an increase in the number of taxi services that operate exclusively through smartphone applications. The number of taxi app users has increased dramatically; in 2020, 50% of all taxi rides were booked online.
With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5%, the industry is predicted to grow even faster and reach USD 365.9 billion by 2024. In terms of making money, China is the most profitable market, with 36.4% of the world's users.
Uber remains the leader but constantly competes with other regional firms such as Didi Chuxing, Grab, Lyft, and Ola. Didi Chuxing is a Chinese company that has pushed Uber out of China and is now investing in Lyft to enter the US market.
Apps providing self-driving cars, bicycles, and scooter rental services have carved out a niche in the transportation business. These channels are cheap and praised for making cities less crowded, reducing pollution, and protecting the natural environment.
So, how much does it cost to build a taxi app, and what should they include? Let's take a look.
After creating a development strategy for your app, you can better answer the question of how much your taxi app will cost. Developers are taxed differently depending on where they are in the world. They have different costs of living, so they charge different rates. Hiring a developer in the United States will cost you between $60 and $250 per hour; however, in India, you can expect to spend between $10 and $80 per hour. Not only does taxi app development cost different, but the work quality will also vary.
In most cases, it will take a team of 5-7 developers around 16 weeks to complete your project, and the total time is between 300-400 hours and somewhere up to 2500 hours (depending on the complexity).
Below is a general overview of how long it takes to build a simple app in Artjoker, such as Uber:
- For iOS, from 142.1 to 168 hours.
- Android version - from 142 to 168 hours.
- 84-108 hours for server-side web development
It takes between 368 and 444 hours to plan, build, and launch a minimum viable product (MVP).
Passenger App
Since the primary audience for this application are people on the go, it should be easy to use. Depending on the technology and platform chosen, the taxi booking app development cost includes between 150 and 300 hours to build the following features:
Registration: The user can sign up using any method available, such as email, social media, or a mobile number.
Taxi booking: A vital part of a taxi booking service is the ability to choose the pick-up and drop-off locations, make a scheduled reservation, check the trip details, and cancel or confirm an order.
Payments: Let customers choose how they want to pay, such as with cash, cards, direct bank transfers, or mobile wallets.
Card information: Customers whose payments are accepted can save their credit card information in the database to charge their cards automatically for future purchases.
Fare calculator: The app should calculate fares automatically after each ride to avoid manual checkout. This calculation should include all taxes and fees associated with the trip.
Tracking: These capabilities help customers better plan their days by showing the taxi's location, estimated arrival time, proposed route, and tracking position during the ride.
Notifications: Customers appreciate keeping important information such as booking confirmation, taxi arrival, trip completion, payment confirmation, etc. To solve this task app needs active push notifications and integrated SMS service. Twilio, Nexmo, and Sinch are vendors that can help you with this.
Ride history: Customers can use ride history to track their trips, see previous bills, and quickly plan trips to places they visit regularly.
Driver's rating: Driver reviews and ratings give drivers a reason to do a good job and give passengers a way to find out about the driver's experience.
Profile management: Passenger profiles can be modified to reflect changes such as a new mailing or billing address, preferred form of payment, phone number, favorite destinations, etc. This capability helps you keep track of the most up-to-date passenger information and provide excellent service at all locations.
Driver App
Since the customer's requirements differ from those of the driver or business partner, it is worth developing a separate application for these groups. This part of a cost to develop a taxi app like uber includes approximately 150-300 hours to create and consists of the following:
Initial registration: A driver can upload his information into a database during the registration procedure. This information may include the driver's ID, car documents, permits, and driver's license. Some data may be confirmed through offline inspection and verified in the app later. After the initial registration, this feature will work like in the passenger app, meaning drivers can sign up and log in using a social media account, a mobile phone number and one-time password (OTP), or an email address and password.
Status update: Drivers should be able to update their availability status, working hours, weekly schedule, location, etc.
Accept or reject a booking: In the case of a request, the driver's ability to accept or reject it is critical.
Booking history: Booking history allows users to track where they have driven, how many trips they have made, how much money they have earned, etc.
Notifications: This is needed to let drivers know, among other things, about upcoming trips, ratings, goals, and rewards.
Infographics: A well-designed infographic can help drivers access and analyze their trip statistics (trips completed, earnings, free hours, and working hours) on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
Admin App
To monitor and regulate each app user (i.e., drivers and passengers), you need an admin panel managed by your company representatives or support team. You can use the in-app analytics and reporting tools to develop marketing activities, initiatives, and an overall strategy. This module will take developers 100 to 200 hours.
