KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Being the leading e-hailing service in Malaysia, more and more users are using Grab to commute around the city.
However, this makes Grab driver-partners face heavy traffic congestion and handle high bookings every day in order to get customers from point A to point B.
Grab builds technology for driver-partners in an effort to maximise productivity and earnings while lowering idle time and anxiety.
These features ensure that driver-partners maximise every minute they are on the road and make the booking and accepting process as seamless as possible.
This will ensure the driver only focuses on driving and is not overwhelmed by other external factors.
In 2022, Grab found a 3.5 per cent decrease in average idle time and a significant 10 per cent increase in average online earnings per hour compared to 2021.
Grab Head of Product Fulfillment, Prashant Kumar recently revealed that Grab’s driver-partner solutions are co-created with them, at an online event, to ease driver-partner concerns.
Maximising time and productivity
Driver-partners can make full use of the time in high passenger demand areas with Heatmaps and Hotspot Navigation.
This will help them to predict high-demand areas and guide them towards using the best routes if they decide to head over.
Drivers who want to maximise their ride time within a specific area can use Personalised Alerts and Zones to receive bookings only in a selected area.
Upcoming features Heatmap with Navigation and Ride Guide plan to create a fully automated experience for driver-partners to better navigate around high-demand areas and are currently under testing in Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.
When peak periods are over and demand is low, Shared Fleet allows driver-partners to look for non-transport-related earning opportunities from Grab’s platform, available now across the region.
Currently, only Heatmaps is available across South-east Asia, while other features are expected to come in Q4 2023 in the Philippines and Malaysia.
Smoother driving experience
Drivers can save the stress of navigating through unpredictable roads as GrabMaps gives a complete overview of routes around South-east Asian cities to cut down ride times.
Driver-partners can Share Live Location to ensure a smoother pickup as the customer will be able to locate them easier.
Meanwhile, Back-to-back bookings, Auto Accept, and Allocation Swaps are features that can be turned on to make sure drivers in hotspots get more bookings without manually accepting them and drive more safely.
Drivers can also personalise their experience by setting My Destination and Locations to avoid, and check the Automated Toll to figure the most cost-efficient routes.
Airport-based drivers can expect an Optimised Airport Queuing Experience when they will be able to see their queue status and accurate waiting time.
The airport queuing feature is expected to begin rollout by the end of 2023.
“To be the most reliable rider-hailing platform we must be prepared for a multi-event outcome, in fact we obsess over it. These measures will lower driving costs and improve the overall marketplace health,” Prashant said.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to not overwhelm the driver with too many options. This is why we created features like back-to-back bookings and auto-accept.”
Additionally, Grab’s other initiatives in Malaysia like GrabBenefits, GrabAcademy, and GrabLejen will be able to empower driver-partners to provide better service and improve overall marketplace health.
To find out more information on being a Grab driver-partner visit here. https://www.grab.com/my/driver/drive/.
