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Google Maps adds a new tab for Car Ride Services along with Drive, Transit & Walk options

By Guest User 28th March 2016

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Google has launched a new tab in its Maps application in addition to drive, transit and walk. This new tab has been dedicated to car ride services which include taxi companies like Uber, Ola, Halio and other car sharing platforms from across the world. Termed as a great step for global cab industry, Google wants to act as a source for people to hail a ride directly from Google Maps app. 

Google said that a person looking for directions within a city needs to have all transportation options including drive, public transit, walk and a cab. The new tab in Google maps acts as a ride aggregator which shows the nearest car along with price and estimated time of arrival. Maybe, Google wants to rule this segment or at least wants to make sure that it helps people book a cab.

Cab Companies that have been added:

  • Uber – Google Map’s Global Partner
  • Ola Cabs in India.
  • Halio & Gett in the UK.
  • 99Taxis in Brazil.
  • mytaxi in Germany.
  • Halio & mytaxi in Spain.

What this means for taxi industry?

With Google adding a dedicated tab to hail a taxi from within its Map application, you can well imagine the massiveness of taxi industry across the world. People want to reach their destination as fast as possible and sometimes hailing a taxi can be the best option. Google Maps app is one of top 10 used apps worldwide and people have welcomed this great move wherein Google is acting as a cab aggregator by fetching pricing details and ETA from various cab companies  

With this new tab, Google has given yet another option to users looking to get around in a city. Earlier, Google Maps had options of Drive, Transit & Walk. According to the company, ride services are an important part for anyone looking for directions in a city. So, to help users get all the information in one place, Google integrated major taxi and car sharing companies on its platform to show real time results within Google Maps application.

Earlier, Google had updated Uber services in their app. But now, with all major cab providers getting into Google Maps app will surely take away the competitive advantage that Uber enjoyed. It seems to be a smart move by Google to attract more users to Google Maps, over other similar map based apps.

Experts in the domain also said that the data from this new tab in Google Maps app will let Google know how many rides are being booked and it might be used for google’s own car ride service Waze rider (formerly RideWith). But this step by Google makes much sense as cabs have become a major part of public transport all across the world, due to the ease by which they can be booked with a tap on the smartphone.  

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