Developing Car Booking App: Mobile and Web Application Suite

The Client

Our client was a company based in the United States that specializes in charter transportation services, operating a large network of luxury cars and corporate vehicles. The client’s vision was to not only provide transportation services but also to offer innovative technology solutions to simplify transportation management process.

The Scope

To develop a sophisticated car booking app that includes several mobile clients, web applications and a highly reliable server-side. The system should include tools for passengers, drivers, and administrators to help the car booking process go as smoothly as possible.

The Solution

This car booking system includes several components, carefully integrated with each other to serve all parties involved in the car-booking process: passengers, drivers, and administrators. Azoft team developed the following components:

• For passengers: iPhone, Android, and web applications for booking, tracking location, and paying for transportation services
• For drivers: iPhone and Android applications for the driver to instantly receive and accept service requests from passengers
• For administrators: web-based backend to oversee and manage the entire process using a web application.

This vehicle booking system includes many elaborate features for all parties involved in the booking process. For example, passengers can view the driver’s profile before booking the closest vehicle, track vehicle on a map in real-time, estimate the cost of the trip, make payments, etc. To ensure timely response without keeping the passenger guessing, drivers can accept or reject a request, depending on the situation. At the same time, administrators can view various statistics, view passenger info, filter requests and much more.

Azoft also provided UI/UX design for all of the system’s components. iPhone and Android applications have native elements, yet the design is very coherent throughout the entire system.

Technologies

iOS 5/6/7, Android 2/3/4, PHP, Java, MySQL, VoIP, Google Maps, HTML5

The Challenge

The main challenge of this project was the fact that involves so many different parts, working in close collaboration with each other. Each component (iPhone, Android, web) was developed by a different subdivision within our company and required extensive communication between different developers.

Another challenge was that the system has many unique features with very specific logic. For example, once the passenger requests a trip and books a car, the rate for the trip is estimated based on the flat rate and the distance estimated using Google Maps API. Once the trip is finished, the system calculates the exact rate according to the distance actually traveled, tracked by GPS.

The Outcome

Azoft developed a fully-functioning application suite for booking and tracking vehicles. The system is aimed at passengers, drivers, and administrators and allows all parties involved to communicate with each other through an innovative, user-friendly interface. This solution is currently being used by hundreds of passengers that require booking charter and commuter transportation.