How IoT will Impact Taxi Industry and Help Them to Even Grow Better

Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things(IoT), Data analytics, and Machine learning are changing the way everything works in the world. Starting from the healthcare industry to our homes, the above technologies are making ripples.

Among these, IoT is the one thing that we can see and feel it. Not to mention, the transport industry including the taxi industry is a big beneficiary of IoT. Since 2016, $80 billion USD has been invested in IoT by the transport segment.

In the transport industry, IoT has made everything possible from road safety issues to monitoring the fleet management systems i.e IoT has been an end to end solution provider.

The fleet management system is slowly gearing up to adapt to the IoT since real-time decision making can improve the efficiency of fleet systems and IoT can do this. Other improvements in fleet management like maintenance cost, fuel consumption, and quick accident response can be made possible with IoT.

Need for IoT in the taxi industry

On-demand taxi firms like Uber and Ola have made a negative impact on the traditional taxi firms which uses dispatch systems for fleet management. The traditional taxi businesses are hanging on the thread.

Also, the on-demand bubble is on the verge of burst. General public and drivers are showing their rant towards the ride handling firms because of their complacency towards rider safety, and exorbitant fares. This is the right time for the traditional taxis to make a comeback. But they have to equip themselves with the latest technologies to be effective. As said earlier IoT has revolutionized transport industry, so combining IoT with traditional taxi will be a sure shot.

Impact of IoT on taxi

Cost, convenience, and speed are the main reason why on-demand taxi business is a huge hit. If the traditional taxi industry makes a comeback, they have to satisfy the people with basic features like cost, convenience, and speed. IoT in the taxi can do all of these but its potential is still untapped.

When it comes to convenience, IoT brings all the processes on a centralized cloud network to gather real-time information. Through the single system, all processes like dispatching, communication, quick service, and payment are integrated. The dispatch system can also provide features like on-time pickups, regular updates on driver details, estimated time of arrival and trip management.   

Safety wise, the taxi companies can work on bridging the gap between the passengers and drivers through one-on-one communication, licensed drivers and call masking features.

Future taxi dispatch system can check fuel, tire pressure, and many other factors in a taxi can be checked real-time with the help of IoT. Better service and efficiency can be achieved through the IoT powered taxi dispatch system.

Benefits of IoT in taxi dispatch system

Smart taxi network

IoT connections between cab and dispatcher will enable us to personalize our journeys. Onboard sensors mean we’ll receive quick updates on scheduled arrival and departure times, and when these are wirelessly connected to our mobiles, we should have the ability to track vehicle progress through a mobile app. If there’s a traffic jam in a certain area, we can see this ahead of time, and work out an alternative route to get to where we need to be. Customers can also get to know an optimum route so that we can save time and energy.

Customers will also be able to view and pay for their entire journey in one go, keeping costs down and saving time when booking. So, a person who is coming out of an airport or train station can see whether there is a taxi and book it beforehand itself.

Precious data for taxi firms

Nowadays there are taxi firms which have 2 to 5 cars to a thousand cars. Whoever it is, tons of data can be availed from them. With these data sourced from them, we can use the intelligence system to better navigate around congested urban areas. These immense amounts of data can be used in self-driving cars which is set to rule the streets in the future.

It seems that the taxi firms will gain maximum in the future since they are the frontrunners in using self-driving cars.

There is no doubt that the future of the taxi business is in good hands but still constant innovation and adoption to change is important and only those who do this can survive in the taxi business. Not to mention that the taxi business is facing a lot of disruption.