How To Build An App Like Uber Or Lyft: Your Next Startup

You are an Entrepreneur and you have finally found your passion and you want to build an app like Uber.

First of all, congratulations on making this decision but if you have not yet decided and are looking for someone who can show you what you are in for, don’t worry. We are here to guide you through all the challenges that you may face in building your dream company.

Starting any new venture may feel like a barefoot walk on ice but if you love ice than every trouble is just another piece of a puzzle to be solved. Step zero is to gather the will and to find an idea which makes you tick. Good news is you may have already done this part.

Next, you would need a business plan. You don’t need to create a detailed five-year plan on the first day itself. All you need is a vision of how you are thinking to build your startup. As your startup will be a taxi service app, the first thing you need is an app.

Here you collaborate with an app development team as you won’t possess the knowledge and experience of building an app. Selecting a good and trustworthy app development team to build an app like Uber or Lyft is of utmost importance. The taxi app developers’ team you hire should be supportive and efficient to fulfill all your taxi app’s development needs.

When it comes to building an app like Uber, there are many features that you should have in your app. It’s clear that you won’t get an all-mighty app just on the first version, which is why the tech Gods created updates. In the beginning, you need just a basic app that satisfies all the requirements of an online taxi service app.

Basic features for Version 1.0

Unique Panels:

One of the first features is to make a 3-panel app where the customer, the driver and the Admin (you or your trusted personnel) can use the app with 3 different panels that are customized according to each of your needs, with admin having the most features and permissions to handle the app.

Real-Time Tracking:

Then comes the real-time tracking feature. Adding real-time tracking to the app will give the customer and the admin exact location of the vehicle which is very important with the aspect of offering customer security.

Registration:

Allowing the customers to register their mobile numbers and make an account in your app will not just give you a loyal customer base but also make booking and payment options for customers easier.

Map Integration:

Including Google Maps or any other map service within your app will lead to an easier way of pinpointing the pickup or drop location by the customer. This feature will help customers trace the nearest driver in their vicinity and let them know the ETA on their ride.

Push Notification:

Customer many times forget about their cab booking and then the customer’s, as well as the driver’s time, is wasted. To avoid this, integrating push notification in your app will give timely updates to the customer about their rides ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).

Payment Gateways:

Payment being the last but most important aspect of any ride is to be given a lot of sincere thinking and consideration. Giving your customers a simple and quick way of payment is as important as giving them a quality ride experience.

Giving your customer as many payment gateways possible is very important as they would opt for your service instead of others if they can get more ways of payment.

In the beginning, you only need these 6 basic functions to build an app like Uber or Lyft. These features may seem less and basic but even Uber didn’t start with a fully furnished high-end app that we see today. They launched a similar basic app and then learned from customer reviews and experience and kept on improving.

After achieving this much development part in your app, you may think to take more time and develop the app furthermore to make it market ready. But, as a startup, you are losing money as long as you keep your app off the market. Launching the app should be the next step. After taking customer reviews you can keep developing the app as much as you want.

Future Enhancements

Above mentioned features are just the basic version of your app which definitely needs many upgrades and additions. Most of which you will receive via customer suggestions and expert opinions from your taxi app development team. Some of the future updates that are inevitable in terms of features are mentioned below for your knowledge:

Split Fare:

Giving just your share of fare is a better option instead of paying for everyone and then waiting for all your fellow riders to pay you back. It’s a really useful feature if you are riding with friends, colleagues or just carpooling with other customers.

Multiple Drop-Off Points:

This again is a useful feature for carpooling where everyone has different drop-off point. This feature helps the driver to know how many drops to make for one ride and what route to take.

Scheduled Rides:

It’s an amazing feature for all those who have an organized calendar. This feature would let you book your ride and destination a week before so that no end time hasty booking would be needed.

Conclusion:

Building your own online taxi booking app is a really profitable startup idea but it would need you to have a really efficient taxi app development team to match your speed and needs. Your taxi app developers should help you understand the technical details instead of confusing you with technical mumbo-jumbo and trying to make an extra buck off your back.

Getting such a team could be difficult but surely rewarding. If you don’t know where to search you can ask questions on forums like Quora or yahoo answers.

For starters, you can visit this page to know more about online taxi app development.