Featured image for Technology Stacks and Costs Towards Developing Taxi Apps

Technology Stacks and Costs Towards Developing Taxi Apps

Featured image for Technology Stacks and Costs Towards Developing Taxi Apps

On-demand applications help to meet the needs and requirement much faster and more efficiently. Demand is the factor that drives the industry to supply more and meet those demands. On-demand applications are a boon to many industries like food, transportation, etc. It is believed to be a boon because of the faster operating possibility provided by these applications.

Taxi sector of the transportation segment benefits a lot using on-demand application. To build an app like Uber, choosing the right technology stack also matters as it influences the performance of the app to be good or bad. To develop a taxi on-demand application, a lot of optimization and network connectivity is needed as different people at different locations are connected with each other.

On-demand solutions for the taxi sector is focused on providing services to customers and users to connect with the right transport at right time and place when needed. One of the famous taxi tech companies using on-demand application is Uber.

Choosing technology stacks for developing a taxi app

While choosing the technology components for your stack, make sure that the stack you choose fulfils the following important requirements. If it fulfills, then you have chosen the right technology stack.

Location services – a must-have the feature

In the taxi community, knowing where your driver is and where is you are is one of the most crucial components. This is because only through this feature the driver and the rider can meet at the right time and place. It allows them to connect with each other without any confusion or miscommunication.

The difference between iOS and Android regarding location services depends upon the type of API used, identifying which is compatible with the respective platform. For iOS platform, consider developing using core location framework. This framework has the ability to interconnect location, altitude, Wi-Fi, etc. For Android platform, consider using Google’s location API. This API works based on return calls and requests from website HTTP links.

While developing this feature you need to consider the kind of operating system platform that you are going to use and the type of application programming interface (API) you are going to use. If you choose the right API and operating system may influence the application to be better or worse. So it is important to check if the technology stack you choose is meeting the purpose to be served.

Notifications are boon

This feature is what keeps all users and customers informed of all operations and transactions. These include the arrival, departure of the cab; offers and discounts or promo codes, which is the source of the users to know updates. The important notifications that must be available are the acceptance or rejection of a ride, pricing, any updates on the price of the ride, etc.

To make sure that the notification works on real-time and reaches the customers interface on right time depends on the type of technology stack you use. It also depends upon on how you maintain the technology stack you choose. For example, you can use a good cloud to send notifications via message or text and push notifications for Apple users. Which medium of software and operating system you want to use depends upon the purpose you want to serve. So, make sure that the stack you choose does not disrupt the customer from being informed.

Varied payment modes ease the transaction

This feature is one of the most viable ones that allow the drivers to have a rewarding feeling and the users a sense of following the decorum too. In this feature, you need to develop by providing different kinds of payment modes, because today different users prefer different kinds of payment. The users’ preference depends upon their convenience. Some of them might prefer paying through cash, some might prefer cashless digital payment, some might prefer payment through the application itself, etc.

Based on the service you are going to provide, choose the appropriate payment gateway and also separate the payment categories into billing and payment. A payment gateway is a service provided by different institutions or service providers for making the necessary payments. To support a strong payment gateway, you need to focus on having a strong network in authentication and authorisation processes.

Taxi app development

Storage and infrastructure is the backbone

This is the vertebrae for the taxi app you are going to develop. Any transaction and operation that place within the app has to be stored for various purposes. It may be for verification or further improvement. Either way you also need to consider the size of your storage and what kind of infrastructure your storage is going to be. Is the infrastructure going to be cloud-based or offline server based, etc.? This would influence your cost and also your app performance.

Establishing a good inter-app communication

All features you build and develop need to connect and interact with each other. That is how your app can work more efficient and effective. For example, after the ride is booked, driver detail must be sent to the user from the server and must be updated in the customer notification center, etc.

If the interaction between features and apps is bad, then even though you chose a good technology stack, the app will still underperform. So, make sure to focus on making the operation more user-friendly too.

Factors influencing the cost of developing taxi apps

Following are some of the criteria that will influence the cost of developing a taxi app. You need to be careful in this segment because sometimes even though you pay more, the features you develop may or may not be compatible with the users’ device. This will result in a loss due to incorrect development.

Operating as a customer-centric app

To develop a customer-centric taxi application you have consider various features like registration, booking, data storage, payment transaction, rating and reviews, etc. Developing each of these features have their own cost of development as they need a separate prototype, separate manual or automated testing.

When you develop features according to customer preference or to attract a customer with a good interface, it demands higher-end hardware systems and custom software. Look at all the available alternatives and choose the most favorable and optimal technology stack.

Different segments

The cost of development also depends upon the similar or different features you provide to different categories like for driver, user, administrator, support, etc. It may be the same feature of different but still, it functions differently in different categories as the users’ usage differ. Hence, you need to have a prototype to test and identify the connectivity between different features. This will help you understand the value addition process and also give you an idea of the budget needed to develop.

Closing thoughts: Taxi apps are a lifesaver

With the changing technology and constantly evolving trends in the business market, the world is moving towards becoming a digital world. Taxi apps help the users to reach the desired destination with no wait time and also helps in reducing their personal cost as they don’t use their personal vehicles. Today is the best day to start your own business and especially a very good time to create your own taxi app. Make the smart decision and stay successful. Good luck.

The article was prepared by Sonal Mehta. She is a Content Lead at SoluLab, a leading Enterprise Blockchain, Enterprise Mobile Apps and Web development company, started by ex-vice president of Goldman Sachs and ex-principal solution architect of Citrix. SoluLab Inc provides full spectrum, 360-degree services to enterprises, startups and entrepreneurs helping turn their dreams into awesome software products.

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