How Uber Was Made

Uber has transformed the world. Indeed, its inconceivable to think of a world without the convenience of the innovative ride share service. Born in part from a job market which constantly deregulating, Uber has emerged triumphant, operating in over 58 countries and its valued at roughly $66 billion. They’ve established branches in over 581 cities in over 82 countries with the United States, Brazil, China, Mexico, India are Uber’s as they active countries.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, in 2016 the company completed a total of 2 billion rides in one week. When you consider the fact that the first billion rides took Uber 6 years, but the second billion was garnered in a mere 6 months, it’s not surprising to see Uber emerge as a global business leader. This worldwide phenomenon is built on a simple idea, seductive it its premise: the ability to hail a car with nothing but your smartphone.

It took the problem of hailing at taxi and gave it a equitable solution for all, solving the eternal chicken-or-egg problem, further capitalizing on the emerging market. And smart people are asking the right question: how do I build an app like Uber for my business needs?

Humble Beginnings 

It all started in 2008, with the founders of Uber discussing the future of tech at a conference. By 2010, Uber officially launched in San Francisco. In 6 months, they had 6,000 users and provided roughly 20,000 rides. What was the key to their success? For one, Uber’s founders focused on attracting both drivers and riders simultaneously. San Francisco was, acting as the heart of the tech community in the US, was thus the perfect sounding board for this form of technological innovation to thrive.

In the beginning, Uber spread their app through word of mouth, hosting and sponsoring tech events, and giving participants of their events free rides with their app. This form of go to marketing persists today; giving 50% discounts to new riders for the first Uber ride. This initial discount incentives users to become long term riders, and the rest was history, as more and more people took to social media to tell the world about this innovative new app—and the sheer brilliance of their marketing strategy paid off.

Product Technology Cohesion: How Uber Works 

What makes Uber, Uber? For one, it’s the ubiquitous appeal, or the way in which they is how they’ve streamlined their product software and technology. It was, at the start, fresh, innovative, and had never been seen before. So if you’re to replicate the model, look to Uber’s branding strategy. To use Uber, you have to download the app, which launched first on iPhone, then extended to Android and Blackberry.

Uber’s co-founders, Garret Camp and Travis Kalanick, relied heavily on 6 key technologies featured on iOS and Android geolocation. What really sold it thorough, was its clear core value: the ability to map and track all available taxis in your given area. All other interactions are based on this core value—and its what sets Uber (and will set your app) apart from the crowd. To build an app like Uber, you’ll need to have

   1. Registering/Log-in features: Uber allows you to register through your first name, last name, phone number and preferred language. Once you’ve signed up, they’ll send you an SMS to verify your number, which will then allow you to set your payment preferences. Trip fares are charged after every ride through this cashless system.

   2. Booking features: This allows drivers the option to accept or deny incoming ride requests, get the information on the customer’s location and destination.

   3. The ability to Identify a Device’s location: Uber, via CoreLocation framework (for iOS platforms) obtains the geographic location and orientation of a device to schedule location and delivery. Understanding iOS and Android geolocation features is crucial for this step, because that’s what you app is running on.

   4. Point to Point Directions: The Uber app provides directions to both the driver and the user. Develops of the Uber app use MapKit for iOS (and Google Maps Android API for Android) to route the route and making directions available. They further implemented Google Maps for iPhone and Android, but cleverly outsources other mapping tech companies to solve any logistical issues that might come up.

   5. Push Notifications and SMS: You get up to 3 notifications instantly from Uber when you book a ride, one notifying you when the driver accepts your request, one when the driver is close to your location, and one in the off chance your ride has been cancelled. You further get the full update on your driver’s status, down to the vehicle make and license number, and an ETA on the taxi’s time of arrival.  

 6. Price Calculator: Uber offers cashless system, paying drivers automatically after every ride, processed through user’s credit card. Uber takes 25% of the driver’s fare, making for easy profit. They paired with Braintree, a world leader in the mobile payment industry, but another good option is Stripe, or Paypal, via Card.io.

Here are few more much sought after features for the user’s side of the app:

• The ability to see the driver’s profile and status: Your customers will feel safer being able to see your driver’s verification, and it’s makes good security sense to ensure you know who’s using your app for profit.
• The ability to Order alerts: see the Push notification system bullet point above (number 6), and receive immediate notification of any cancellations.
• The ability to see the route from Their Phones (An In built Navigation system): This is intrinsically linked to your geolocation features, you want to be able to direct your taxis to the quickest, most available routes.
• Price calculation: see bullet point number 4 above.
• A “spilt fare” option: Uber introduced this option wit great success. It allows friends to spilt the price of the app
• Requesting previous drivers: It’s a little like having your favourite taxi man on speed dial, and is a good way of ensuring repeat customers.
• Waitlist instead of surge pricing: Avoid the media hassle of employing of surge pricing by employing a wait list feature, so your users can be added to a waiting list rather than be charged more than they should, and to keep them from refreshing the app during peak hours, saving your server the hassle.

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