How to Develop A Ride-Sharing App? Key Features & Cost

A ride sharing app is one of the most common apps you will find on almost everyone’s smartphone these days. Over the last decade, they have changed how we commute to work, travel intra and inter-city. While the market is full of ride sharing apps like Uber and Lyft, the billion-dollar industry is an excellent market for any new business as well. Ride sharing app development costs can be one of the greatest investments for anyone looking to get into the business. If you want to build a ride-sharing app, read along as we discuss the key features, tech stack, and cost of an app like that. Also, you will find out how to select the perfect app development company for your business.

Overview of the Ride-Sharing Market

The ride-sharing market is a billion-dollar industry that has been steadily growing for years now. The industry is expected to grow by more than 133% between the period 2022 to 2028, and the market size will reach USD 226 billion by that time. There are many factors that are driving this market upwards. The primary of them is younger adults who don’t want to invest in huge sums required for car ownership. Other reasons for their popularity are reduced carbon footprint, door-to-door services, and no parking issues. Widespread internet and smartphones have also fuelled the industry’s growth, particularly in developing countries like India and China. Even in European countries where public transport is very sound, the ride-sharing market is growing.

With increasing internet penetration, businesses are foraying into new markets. This is another reason for the bright prospects of the industry.

Must-have Features to Develop A Ride-Sharing App

Your ridesharing app must have all the features of the top ridesharing app to compete with them. Some of these must-have apps are listed below;

User Registration

You must allow users to log in securely and create and manage their profiles. Additionally, you must also allow them to log in to their profiles using emails, phone numbers, or their social media profiles. Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, and many apps allow users to register through it.

Real-time vehicle tracking

Real-time vehicle tracking helps passengers estimate when their car will reach them or their destination. It is a must-have feature for your app.

Payment integration

Integrate popular payment methods like credit/debit cards, online wallets (Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay), and other online payment options like Paypal and Stripe with your car ride app. This facilitates convenient payment options for passengers.

Fare calculator

You must develop an algorithm to calculate the fare of a ride depending on the distance travelled, time taken, and surge pricing. This will help passengers know the estimated cost of the journey beforehand and will reduce any friction at the time of payment.

Ratings

The best ride sharing app allows passengers to rate their journey and the drivers on their behavior. This is a great way to get feedback from them. It will help you improve your services in the long run. You must also follow suit and have this feature on your app.

Notifications

You must also add push notifications and alerts. This will help passengers know the ETA, any fare changes, and upcoming offers. It will allow users to keep informed throughout the journey and even after it.

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Rideshare App Development Process

Conceptualize the idea

To create the top carpooling app, you need to do a few basic tasks like defining the target audience, doing market research, competitor analysis, and identifying the core features of the app. This will help you and your app development partner to have a clear and defined goal.

Find the right mobile app development company

If you don’t want to go through the tedious process of hiring and developing an in-house team of developers for your app, you would have to hire an app development partner. This way, you can hire dedicated developers at a fraction of the in-house hiring cost. To find the right partner, you must check their testimonials, expertise, budget, and time zone difference. Your app development partner must also have robust security in place so that your invaluable data is not compromised. Signing an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with them is also the best practice.

Planning

This step is all about discussing and sharing your plans with your app development partner. You will inform them about the key features, functionalities, budget, and timeline of the project. You should also establish clear communication channels and project milestones. This will help you keep track of the project’s progress and provide real-time feedback to the developers.

Design the app

The next step is creating the app’s design while keeping the user experience at the center of it. Design is the most important part to build a ridesharing app. You must create a wireframe and prototype that will define the app flow. Keeping simplicity and clarity in mind, you must make the app’s design. You will also be required to add branding elements while maintaining the overall aesthetics of the app.

Front-end and back-end development

This is where the tech stack of the app will be finalized. You will have to confirm the programming languages, database, security and APIs for the app. After which, the front-end and the back-end development of the app will take place. In this step, your app should start to take its final form. All the functionalities and complexities of the app will be defined and tested.

Launch and maintenance

Once the on-demand ride-sharing app development is complete, it will be launched on the respective app stores. But the work is far from over, as after the first iteration of the app goes live, you will have to maintain it, take feedback from the first users and improve on the app. This can be bug fixes, app crash issues, or any other issues highlighted by the users.

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Top 5 Car-Sharing Apps

Ridesharing App Like Uber

Uber is one of the largest global ride-sharing platforms. It also must be credited with the mainstreaming of ride-sharing apps worldwide. The company has been in business for over a  decade now and is available in major cities across the world, like Los Angeles, Paris, and London. Over the years, it has forayed into shared bikes and boats as well. It offers features like cashless payments, 24/7 support, passenger safety, etc. It has also expanded its business to Uber Eats, which is an on-demand food delivery service, and Uber Freight, which provides on-demand trucking services.

Car Sharing App Like Lyft

Lyft was founded in 2012 in San Francisco, California just two years after Uber. Since then, it has been playing catchup with Uber. It is the second most popular ride-sharing app worldwide, and the brand’s iconic logo- the Pink Moustache has become very recognizable. After offering services in all major cities of the US, it has now expanded operations to even Canada. It has features like in-app payment, price estimation, and safety features.  Lyft also offers premium car sharing at premium prices.

Car Rental App Like DiDi

DiDi is one of the most popular ride-sharing apps in China. It was founded in 2012, and since then, it operates in all major cities of the country. It has also partnered with local ride-hailing apps to offer services in places like Southeast Asia, South America, and Australia. The company now offers various services, including premium cars at high-end prices and bikes. It emphasizes safety and security. The company also heavily invests in AI, Machine learning to give better services to its customers.

Car Sharing App Like Grab

Like others in the list, Grab was launched in 2012 as a car rental app and has expanded services into food delivery, parcel delivery, financial services, and digital payments. Initially, it was called MyTeksi and was launched in Malaysia. It has now expanded operations to several other parts of Southeast Asia, like Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. It also offers motorcycles for commuting through congested parts of the cities, which is a top-rated service in highly populated cities.

Car Sharing App Like Turo

Turo is a peer-to-peer rideshare and carpooling app. It was started in 2009 to allow owners to share their cars with other people. It was formerly known as Relay Ride and started in San Francisco, California. The peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace of Turo is very different from its competitors. It offers a wide range of cars to hire.  Users can rent the car for hours or small durations depending on their needs.

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Ride-Sharing App Development Cost

The estimated cost of your on-demand ridesharing app will depend on many factors;

> Location of talent

Per hour charge of developers in the US and EU is more than their southeastern counterparts. If budget is a constraint for your project, choosing an Indian taxi app development company would be a wise decision for you.

> Expertise

The more expertise your app development team has, the higher they will charge for their services. This will affect the cost of your carpooling app development.

> Platform

The cost of development of the app will increase with the number of platforms you are developing your app for. In general, developing an app for both Android and iOS will cost you double that of developing one platform. This is because iOS app development and Android app development will require two different teams to work on.

> Features and complexities

The complexity of the features will also cost you more. If budget is an issue for you, you must opt for a basic app as it will cost you substantially lower than a complex app.

> Third-party integrations

Any third-party integration will cost you extra. So, you have to ensure there are only the necessary third-party integrations in your app.

> Timeline

The timeline of the project will also affect its cost. For a lesser time to market your app, a larger team will have to work on your project, which means shelling extra for it. As is evident, all of these factors will affect the cost of your carpooling app. So, it is difficult to give an exact number for this. A better way to get the estimate for the project would be to share all the project details with your app development partner; they will be able to give a good estimate after hearing all of that.

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Conclusion

The ride-sharing app market is huge and with bright growth prospects. Although there are many big players in the industry already, it shouldn’t dissuade you from joining it. There is plenty of scope for a new and upcoming business in the market. With the right on-demand app development company by your side, you will get the best carpooling app for your business.

FAQs

Q. How can I ensure passenger safety in ride-sharing apps?

Ans. There are numerous ways to ensure the safety of passengers, like background checks of drivers, real-time trip tracking emergency buttons, and driver ratings.

Q. How long does it take to develop a ridesharing app?

Ans. The timeline for developing your ride-sharing will depend on various factors like the app’s complexity; the platforms opted for, and the size of the team working on the project. Depending on these, it can take anywhere from 3-4 months.

Q. What is the cost to create a ridesharing app?

Ans. The cost of developing a ride-sharing app will depend on various factors like the location of talent, platforms, and complexity of the features. Spending on these, it can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.

Q. What payment options should I integrate with my ride-sharing app?

Ans. You must integrate a mix of popular wallet options like Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, online payment methods like PayPal and Stripe, and cash payment as well.