Solving real local transportation challenges, Grab drives customers’ convenience and support government efforts

Jakarta, 11 October 2016 – Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing platform, today announced the use of an additional algorithm designed to support the real-time odd-even car license plate matching. Grab will implement a specially designed algorithm for its GrabCar service to support the filtering functions and match odd-even license plates to the date, time, and pick-up destination. The algorithm is designed to automatically and efficiently add a series of filters to ensure GrabCar users quickly receive a booking on-demand. Starting today, it will be more convenient for GrabCar users to find a ride to commute to and from the areas where odd-even number policy is implemented.

“Grab is committed to solving real and local transportation challenges to make transport freedom a reality for people across Southeast Asia. This filtering and matching algorithm will be rolled out in support of the Indonesian government’s efforts to control the volume of private vehicles during peak hours in the capital, enabling our passengers to have a convenient, safe, and reliable means of transportation,” said Bernard Hosanna, Country Product Lead for Grab Indonesia.

Grab is Southeast Asia’s first home-grown tech company and is intent on using our local insights, regional network, and global innovation to create positive change for people. Bernard further added that traffic congestion is an ongoing problem that is estimated to cost IDR 35 trillion of lost economic value in a year. The government has demonstrated its intent to solve the challenge with the odd-even number policy as one of the recent ones. “The new algorithm is an example of Grab’s commitment to invest in technology and employ ride-hailing services to solve local congestion, while continually supporting our government’s efforts,” Bernard added.

Odd-even car license plate traffic regulation requires private cars to take turns entering particular roads in the city based on their plate number ending in an odd or even number, or an odd or even date, during weekdays between the hours of 07:00 WIB and 10:00 WIB and from 16:00 WIB to 19:00 WIB. For example, on Monday morning, 10 October, from 07:00 WIB to 10:00 WIB, a private car with the license number of B 2345 GRB will not be able to enter Jakarta’s protocol street, while other private cars with the digit being an even number B 2346 GRB will be allowed to pass through.

Bernard further explained that through this improvement to our booking system, Grab demonstrates our ability to find innovative ways to provide a seamless & convenient experience for our passengers. “Our passengers can rest assured that they will be allocated the right car plated number according to the date and time when traveling to and from the affected areas. It will also be easier for our driver-partners in doing their job. They will no longer need to worry about getting a job to the affected area when the date doesn’t match with their license plate,” Bernard concluded.

Technology, especially data analytics and machine learning, has always been imperative for Grab to deliver its services by leveraging local insights to solve real problems. Some other examples of how Grab uses local insights for its technology include monitoring real-time data to address real-time demand and leveraging telematics data to reduce biker speeding by up to 35 percent. Grab will continue to invest in technology to provide a faster, safer, and more reliable transportation solution for its passengers.

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About Grab

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing platform. Grab solves critical transportation challenges to make transport freedom a reality for 620 million people in Southeast Asia. Grab began as a taxi-hailing app in 2012, but has expanded its core product platform to include private cars and motorbikes. Grab is focused on pioneering new commuting alternatives for drivers and passengers with an emphasis on convenience, safety and reliability. As part of its innovative culture, Grab is testing new services such as social carpooling, as well as last mile and food deliveries. Grab currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. For more information, please visit: http://www.grab.com.