As Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing and food delivery app, Grab said it prioritizes not only the needs of their passengers and customers but also their driver partners.
According to the company’s data, in 2022, Grab’s constant updates to their driver app contributed to a 3.55% reduction in average idle time for driver-partners and a 10% increase in average earnings per online hour compared to 2021.
“Whenever we speak to our driver partners, consistently, earnings are one of the most important factors our driver-partners care about. They want to earn as much as they can whenever they’re working on the platform,” stated Prashant Kumar, head of Grab product fulfilment.
To keep driver earnings climbing, though, improvements to the app can’t stop. On Friday, August 25, the ride-hailing company held a virtual media session to provide a sneak peek into the coming updates that will help drivers optimize every minute on the Grab Driver app.
First, the company announced fresh features built on their Heatmap. The Grab Heatmap is an already active feature that shows high demand areas based on historical data and real-time insights. As of now, drivers still have to manually figure out a route to the indicated hotspots, but this is going to change.
Grab is testing out various upgrades that will navigate drivers to their chosen hotspots or even find and direct them to the nearest ones. For instance, Heatmap with Navigation — which is ongoing pilot in Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia — allows drivers to select a hotspot and the app will guide them to it.
On the other hand, the Hotspot Navigation feature currently being trialed in Singapore will recommend the closest hotspots to drivers. Then once the drivers confirm they want to head to one of these high demand areas, the app will plan a route to it.
The next update, Ride Guide, takes recommendations a step further. When turned on, this feature will automatically navigate drivers to their nearest hotspot after they complete their previous ride.
Driver’s won’t even have to confirm their preference. Like the Heatmap with Navigation, this feature is being beta-tested in Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Another tool is the Personalized Alerts that aim to ensure offline drivers are informed of possible earning opportunities. These notifications will advise offline drivers when demand is increasing in their frequented hotspots so they can log on and score bookings.
While already available to Singaporean and Thai drivers, these reminders will soon be notifying Filipino and Malaysian drivers.
Lastly, the company announced a feature set to roll out by the end of 2023 that will help driver’s make informed decisions about one of the most reliably high-traffic locations: airports.
On paper, airports seem to be a profitable place for drivers to stake out. However, the number of drivers in the area could cause drivers to waste valuable time as they wait for potential passengers.
Grab’s Optimized Airport Queue Experience will enable drivers to view their queue status in real-time at airports, including their estimated waiting time. In this way, drivers will be able to judge whether the wait is worth it or if they should search for bookings elsewhere.
“By helping our partners to be productive, it will not only contribute to higher driver earnings, but it has a direct correlation to a healthier and more reliable marketplace as more passengers will be able to get a ride with they need it,” Kumar said.
