Taxi booking services were once a royalty and Uber made it affordable by making it convenient and available to all. Not just it disrupted how the traditional taxi booking system worked, it also impeded the way people used to run their business. Do you have any business plan that can improve the quality of an existing service and offer it on demand? If yes, you can be the next Uber. But to create an app like Uber and get into an apple or google play store is not easy. Taking a large portion of the ridesharing market require you to offer smooth access, a great experience for both riders & drivers, and strong branding.

Today, the on-demand service module of Uber can be applied to almost all the industries and their niches. The brand becomes a huge success by offering passengers with efficient and affordable transportation. Its height of popularity can be seen from the term “Uberisation”. With no doubt, Uber is the most popular taxi booking application with its presence over 700+ cities in 65 countries. In 2018 end, the Uber earned revenue of $10 billion and was ranked as the second most disruptive innovation company worldwide.

The Features Essential for Your Uber-like App

To get into the basics, Uber is made of three different mobile applications.

• The admin application
• The driver application
• The rider application

All these applications have their own set of functionalities and features.

• Features of customer application

Track Rides

Uber offers an option for its passengers to track the ride status soon after booking a ride. Once the rider enters the location of pickup and drop, the driver either accepts and start traveling towards the pickup or reject the ride.

The pickup location

To figure out how far the driver if from your location and view his route, passengers can leverage the navigation integrated into the app. Apps like Uber have this special feature which counts as a unique value proposition.

Fare estimation

Based on their pickup and drop location, passengers can generate a price estimation for their rides. The fare actually differs based on the type of the car chosen, distance, and it varies considerably during the peak hours. If the rider stops at a number of destinations during his ride, the fare gets adjusted accordingly with Uber’s powerful algorithm. This is yet another significant feature that Uber-like apps must focus on.

Multiple payment modes

Uber application offers its customers multiple payment methods to pay the cab fare. The rider can choose different types of payment methods like cash, debit card, credit card, mobile wallets, etc.

Book now ride later

Yet another advanced feature of Uber is Book now and ride later. This feature allows the riders to book their rides in advance. Once booked, the rider gets a confirmation and timely notification to track the ride. Once the booking is made, the rider gets the details of the driver an hour before the scheduled ride.

Book for others

Just like a book now ride later, this is another advanced feature of Uber. The Uber algorithm facilitates booking for others, meaning a rider can book for others like family members or friends by giving the exact pickup location. Once the ride request is accepted, the passenger gets information on the ride through an SMS and app notification. The ride can be tracked with the help of the link received through the SMS.

Features of driver application

Trip history

This feature allows drivers to track the records of both completed and canceled trips. This is extremely useful for the driver to maintain records of all their trips.

My destination

This is yet another advanced feature that allows the driver to take a rider to his preferred destination. It allows them to enter the pre-defined routes at the time of heading back home so that they get requests that come along this route.

Route optimization

Route selection feature allows the driver to choose the most efficient route to reach the destination quickly. The route selection feature can be utilized to reroute the entire ride to navigate through the most efficient and safe path.

Quest earnings

This feature facilitates the driver to make extra money with his trips. The quest contains a number of pre-defined rides which the driver has to complete to earn additional money.

Forward dispatch

The forward dispatch is an advanced feature of the Uber driver app, which facilitates the drivers to accept the request of another rise while still completing the current ride. This allows cutting down the waiting time and earning extra money.

• Features of Admin panel

Driver transaction

You can get a complete weekly report of the driver’s trip, the total amount earned from rides, and the total amount to be paid after deductions. All the details about the driver’s trip can be tracked and managed.

Manual dispatch

Manually assign a trip request to the driver on the behalf of a passenger. This feature becomes significant in situations like when the network is down or when passengers cannot request for a ride in case of outstation rides.

Advance fare management

Advance fare management is a quite flexible pricing strategy which allows to set flexible and surge price based on locations, time and high demand.

Interactive dashboard

A user interactive dashboard facilitates admin to check the active, completed, pending and cancelled trips, all in a single dashboard. Under one section, all the essential details can be tracked.

Driver commission

You can set different commission rates for different people. These features allow hassle-free management of commission rates for all drivers and check and alter it anytime.

Reports

This feature allows the admin to check the entire trip statistics for a particular period. You can easily check and track statistics for all the trips completed by drivers over a defined period of time.

Building an App like Uber- Cost and Development Insights

How much it cost to build an app like Uber? The cost to build an app like Uber depends on the functionalities you want in your app and the complexity required to bring in those. Here, we will take you through the different types of development types and the cost involved with each one.

• SaaS marketplace

No one wants to be stuck with a 1-year launch timeline costing over half a million dollars to build an app like Uber. This is when Sass marketplace or e-commerce technologies become significant. SaaS marketplace lowers the cost barrier to launch and scale any business. SasS platforms are multi-tenant software solutions hosted in the cloud which has already automated all the work for you.

You just have to create your application with the available online tools and extensions and configure it according to your requirements. Building an app like Uber with SaaS technology will cost you around $1200.

• Open source market solution or Uber clone

An open source marketplace or Uber clone script is another way to build your own Uber-like app. Ideal on demand Uber clone app will have all the essential features of Uber and you can easily add the customizations, too. With Uber clone script, you get 100% source code which you can install on multiple domains and that works well with various niches. Whether you are just beginning your business or planning to grow it with an excellent Uber clone script, you can get scripts starting from $399 (Basic plan) and $799 (premium plan). 

• Building from scratch

Building an app like Uber from scratch is the most complex and expensive process that involves dividing the whole project into multiple parts and considering each part individually. Uber app development cost (to build the app from scratch) is calculated based on various factors like the following.

• UI/UX aspects
• Number and complexity of features
• Technology preferences
• Number of platforms and OS details
• Development team and location
• Project management
• Business analysis
• Quality assurance

Last but not least, the budget allocated for marketing and promotions will also count, along with other indirect business costs. If you choose to develop an app like Uber with an hourly rate of $100, the cost would come around roughly between $150,000-$2000,000 taking an average of 5-7 months to develop a simpler version.

Conclusion

A taxi app like Uber is not just a client app with a convenient interface to book rides- it is a complex system of communication between riders, drivers and admin of the service. So how to make an app like Uber to take your business to new heights? You also need a clearly defined marketing strategy to promote your application to stand out in the space dominated by pioneers. Uber had a brilliant marketing strategy. With no innovative marketing plans, your app will most likely go unnoticed. The success of your project lies building an efficient and functional application that will improve an existing service rather than blindingly coping the Uber app functionality.