Those who live in large cosmopolitan cities with busy traffic and lack of parking space, refuse to own cars in favor of rideshare services like Uber. High demand for personal car rides makes entrepreneurs think about how to make an app like Uber and successfully launch it on local markets or even worldwide.
And, indeed, Uber-like app development seems to be a reasonable move not only for entrepreneurs but for transport companies as well. The market of ridesharing apps has never been so full as in recent years. New apps keep cropping up, heated by Uber and its tremendous success, in the desire to grab a piece of a pie.
The companies that received worldwide recognition are always going to be a role model for the ones who make their first steps to success. So if you want to create an app like Uber, it’s important to comprehend the company’s approaches to technology and business processes. For this, I suggest you read on to find out how to create an app like Uber and how much it costs.
Things to Know About Uber-Like App Development
Before we move on forward the topic, I would like to stress the scale of Uber. It currently operates in 84 countries and over 800 cities providing a 24-hour-per-day on-demand connection between riders and drivers through the Android and iOS apps. Both parties are aware of each other’s location and concerns over the car arrival time are no longer topical.
Quite impressive, yeah? Uber has captured a great share of the market with its smooth app-user interaction, great marketing campaigns, and rare error reports.
Based on availability, there is a choice of various levels of Uber service:
- uberX – the most cost-efficient option.
- UberBLACK – classy Uber with chic cars.
- UberSUV – when the size matters.
- UberLUX – the prime service needs no words.
As you see, this is a large company of the worldwide scale which, furthermore, has divided its core service — ridesharing — into several smaller parts in order to fit different customer needs.
The secret of this trendy car-hailing service is concealed, but let’s try to lift the veil a bit.
How Does Uber Work?
If you want to make an app like Uber, you should be aware of how the service works on the customer side. The general app performance can be shown in 5 simple steps:
- Step #1: Request. The customer requests a car instantly or on schedule via the app. Those requests are received by drivers nearby.
- Step #2: Matching. The driver may either accept or reject the ride. If they reject it, the request is sent to another driver.
- Step #3: Ride. The customer tracks the taxi approach and knows the estimated time of arrival.
- Step #4: Payment. The cashless way of payment and the price estimated beforehand make this process smoother for both parties.
- Step #5: Rating. It’s an important component of Uber’s business logic which enhances the service reliability.
How Many Apps Do You Really Need?
If you’re striving to create your own Uber app (or its counterpart) there is the need for two apps. The original platform consists of the Driver App designed for drivers partnering with the company and the Passenger App meant for ordinary customers who book their rides. Apart from that, the platform should also come with an admin panel that’s capable of managing and monitoring the platform’s work.
Let’s first consider the basic and advanced features you may implement in the app for passengers.
Basic features to build an app like Uber for customers:
- Geolocation and routing.
- Payment integration.
- Registration and personal data management.
- Call or text the driver right from the app.
- Push notifications.
- Ride cost estimation.
- Top-notch UI and UX design.
Advanced features:
- Scheduling a ride in advance.
- Booking a ride for others.
- Splitting a fare with companions.
Now, let’s take a look at the basic and advanced features which you can build in the app for drivers.
Basic features to create Uber app for drivers:
- Driver reports.
- Advanced route optimization.
- Personal profile editing.
- ‘Active / Inactive’ option (active drivers are visible on the map, inactive aren’t).
- Calling to a passenger from the app.
- Generating daily / monthly reports of past bookings and earnings.
Advanced features:
- Driver destinations.
- Free cancellation within a set period of time.
- Heat maps.
The admin panel is the last but not the least thing you should consider. Admin panels are typically web-based and demand certain efforts on the part of your web development service vendor. It should give you a convenient overview of business processes as well as provide capabilities of managing payrolls and collecting user data.
Revenue Models for an Uber-like App
Depending on the objectives, your revenue model can differ from Uber’s one. This ridesharing platform doesn’t own a fleet of cars and earns its profit acting as a mediator by bringing drivers and passengers together.
There are a couple of revenue models you can consider if you intend to build the Uber app clone or its counterpart:
- Charging fees from drivers
- Charging fees from passengers