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The Perfect Ride-Sharing App: How & What We Did?

The Perfect Ride-Sharing App: How & What We Did?

case-19

Overview

Our client owns a ride-sharing application.

The riders can search for a nearby driver, based on the source and destination of their travel, and the drivers’ can see ride demands, get ride requests using the application.
They wanted an application which would be of two variants – one for the drivers and one for the riders (or passengers).
The riders can search for a nearby driver, based on the source and destination of their travel, send a ride request to the nearest available driver, book a ride, travel, and pay using the app.
On the other hand, the drivers’ app would let the drivers see ride demands and navigate, accept ride requests, and complete the requested rides.

Challenges

As the application has two variants, it had to be extremely well designed and structured keeping in mind the two very different sets of users. Also, it had to be really fast and smooth.

A facility to share the ride details needed to be enabled which required social media integration along with email and SMS.
For making payments, the riders had to be given the facility to add card details added with a wallet option for quicker payments and collecting rewards. The drivers needed an option to connect their bank account with the app to directly deposit ride payments straight into their account.
An dashboard/home screen was to be designed showing real time location of the riders, drop locations, etc. added with the option to accept or reject a ride request. Also, a settings option was needed wherein a driver can set preferences for accepting rides on the basis of rider, drop location or distance, passenger rating, etc.

Implementation of Plan

Being a ride sharing app, it needed access to device specific hardware and software components such as the location services. Hence, we built it using native technologies.

The native framework gave us a wide range of functionalities for using the capabilities of the device added with a fast and responsive software performance and smart UI.

We made the app to be usable with Android 4.0 & above, iOS 5 & above in order to cater to a wide range of users.

The application was designed with the following component structure:
  • Passenger app
  • Driver app
  • Driver portal
  • Admin panel
Passenger Application
For passenger app we created an easy and quick login and registration section where the users can sign up with name, email, phone number and password as passengers.This section was built with extra care to expedite the login process as passengers are usually in a hurry when looking for rides.The passengers get the complete freedom to edit their name, change the profile picture, phone number & password anytime they want. Also, they get assistance to set a strong password.As time is always a vital factor for riders, we implemented the option to let the riders save their card details in the app for quick and trouble-free payments. Also, we made a wallet for storing money from bank cards for even faster payments.To add to the ease and excitements for the riders, we created the option for them to avail payment rewards and apply promo codes at the time of making payments.A ride history option was built to enable users to re-request a previous ride with the same destination and other details to save their time. They can also mark a ride as ‘favorite’ for quickly requesting regular or repetitive rides.When passenger books a ride, a preview of the route, distance, estimated time and charges are shown, who can then confirm the trip.Once the driver arrives at the pickup location, the rider gets 3 minutes to board the ride and share the OTP received with the driver so that driver can start the trip.As a safety feature, we set an option to share ride details.The passengers get the option to share their ride details with the people they want. They can share it on social media, email, and via SMS.After a trip is over the total fare is calculated and shown as per the mode of payment and passenger is prompted to rate and review the driver.For passengers who need any help, we kept a ‘Help’ section right at the top for instant access.This section gives all the necessary elements such as the FAQs, Guide to the App, Terms & Conditions, etc. just a tap away.In addition to all these, we implemented and enabled all the best features and functions users would require like select the type of taxi, specify the number of seats required, etc. Also, Google map showing real time drop and driver location, expected arrival time for pickup, etc.
Driver Application
Just like the passenger app, we made a login and registration section for the drivers and added a profile section wherein they can update, change or modify their details.We created a prompt which pops up immediately after a user completes the registration. It asks the driver to provide essential details such as the type of service, photos of the vehicle, the facilities of the vehicle and number of passenger seats available, etc.After putting in the car details, the driver is prompted to upload relevant documents for verification and approval such as Driver’s License, Car Registration papers, etc.These documents need to be manually approved by the admin so that the driver is visible and shown available in the app.The driver can later change the documents and submit which then have to be re-approved by admin.Now, to ease the work of the drivers, they are given the option to set up or update their availability for rides or go online/offline from the profile section.We enabled the functionality to map a bank account in the application to let the drivers receive the payments from rides straight into their bank account.Considering the preferences of the drivers, we created a settings menu for them where they can set their preferences for accepting ride requests on the basis of location, distances, passenger ratings, etc.To save some time for the driver, we enabled ‘auto accept requests’ option for instantly accepting ride requests as per preferred conditions.A dashboard screen was created to show the driver real time routes on Google maps and passenger’s pickup and drop location.When a passenger confirms a trip request, the driver gets a full-screen notification of the request and gets a 20 seconds time-frame to accept or reject the ride request. This only happens when the driver is online.We made a system in which the ride request automatically routes to the next immediate available driver in case the first driver rejects or doesn’t accept the request within 20 seconds.Google maps were integrated to help the driver with pickup location, destination, routes, traffic, distance, etc.For Airport Pickup, we built a notification system, which notifies the driver of the airport queue and the queue number his/her car has got for passenger pickup, along with an estimated time.Just like the passengers, the drivers also get a prompt to review and rate the passengers once the trip is over and the payment is complete.We included a very useful feature for the drivers, i.e. Ride Demand.Here, the driver can see all ride requests in the map and accordingly decide which place has maximum bookings at a time and reach there.Also, we enabled the basic features like trip summary and history, earnings summary, and help section in the drivers app.
Driver Portal
This portal was designed in order to let the drivers submit all the necessary documents for verification purposes.All the documents security verification are automatically done. The driver gets the access to start using the account post verification.All the promotions and promo codes for drivers are displayed in the Driver Portal.
Admin Panel
We built an admin panel for the owners who manage the application end to end.The panel consists of every feature, functionality, and settings needed for operating the app.Using the admin interface, the app managers can see the entire app stats and numbers up to a very granular level such as total rides, total revenue, daily/weekly and monthly trips and transactions, number of canceled rides, total passengers and drivers registered, etc.
In addition, the app admin gets the access to the following:
  • List of all the users registered as passengers and drivers and the associated details.
  • Ride history based upon date range, location, latest first, etc.
  • Add/Modify/Delete or in case needed Deactivate or Suspend user accounts.
  • View the overall average rating and individual ratings and reviews of all users.
  • Review and verify all documents submitted by the drivers.
  • Specify any user specific benefits and offers.
  • Add, Edit or Delete promo codes and promotions in the News and Events sections, and check the count and list of users who have availed the offers.
  • Manage all the contents and elements of the application.
We gave the admin all the necessary features and functionalities to smoothly and successfully operate the application from the back end.We used Angular framework for front end to build a faster, lighter and easier app interface and for the back end we used EnMobi.During the application design & development, we created mock-ups based upon approved wire-frames by the client. This helped us ensure maximum adherence to their requirements.As a best practice throughout the project execution process, we did thorough code reviews and multiple rounds of testing.This helped us to stay clear of any flaws and glitches, and build a high-performance, responsive and user friendly application.To add to our client’s business success with the app, our dedicated app development team and robust delivery process pulled down our client’s development costs by about 50%.
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