We did a little experiment in our 1 billion rides milestone blog post to find out what people in Southeast Asia envision Grab to be like in ten years’ time. The experiment exceeded our expectations – we received over 500 entertaining and inspiring entries!
What were some of the buzzwords? Our word cloud says it all:
The Future of Grab – Your Everyday App.
We visualised these entries into a word cloud and found that the top most recurring wish is for Grab to be a one-stop, everyday app. Majority of our well-wishers, whom we call the “Crystal Ball/Fortune Tellers”, wanted Grab to expand from just being a transport app to a lifestyle app – an app that complements their daily life. Some commonly used words to describe this future included seamlessness, touch and go and holistic Grab experience. Groceries, online shopping, home delivery were words that stood out as well. This entry from Singapore aptly underscores this idea:
“Grab will be more than just a provider of rides but a community that networks multiple services (food delivery, parcel and logistics etc) in SEA.”
We found another large group of well-wishers, the “Innovators”, who wished for Grab to expand its current transport offerings to include more innovative transportation modes such as GrabTrain, GrabPlane, GrabSea, GrabTruck and GrabHeli. And finally the “Futurists”, who would like to see more moonshot projects such as self-driving cars, flying cars, biometric payments, GrabDrones and GrabBots.
The future of Grab sure sounds exciting. Imagine all of these wishes coming together as part of the Grab’s ecosystem.
From the moment you wake up, all your daily needs are taken care of with one app.
You look at your business appointments for the day. You will need to reach office by 10.30am for your first meeting. You open the Grab app when you’re ready to leave. The app predicts your destination based on your daily routine and maps out the estimated time of arrival from your home to the office based on real-time traffic conditions.
You decide you still have some time and choose the cheapest route option across multiple modes of transport. You begin your journey by taking GrabShuttle to the train station, continue on mass transit, and use electric GrabCar to get to your final destination – all in one single journey, using one mobile wallet GrabPay.
While you’re enroute and realised you’ve left your wallet at home, fret not as your wallet has gone mobile with GrabPay. You alighted from the train station, buy breakfast at your BreadTalk with GrabPay, and claim your kopi-o from Ya Kun using your GrabRewards points. Your GrabCar pulls up right in front of the cafe.
As you continue your final leg , you realised you forgot to send your child his or her school allowance and instantly transfer using GrabPay Credits. After work, you visit the shopping mall and have your bulky purchases delivered to your doorsteps via GrabExpress. And finally, before heading home via GrabCycle, you order dinner for your family with GrabFood.
Commute, eat, deliver shopping – and pay with one e-wallet.
The future is not far away. Watch this video.
Is this a future you would like to be in?
Other top wishes for the Future of Grab!
Grab x Travelmore_vertSingapore wishes for…
close“The company that enables safe tourism in Southeast Asia, putting an end to all illegal and unscrupulous transport predators lurking at airports awaiting for naive tourists. I experienced being ‘saved’ by Grab during my first solo trip to Vietnam. I had a peace of mind traveling because I knew I wasn’t being ripped off, and I was ‘saved’ as Maps showed me the direction I was headed. Thank you, Grab!”
Did you know: Did you know: We thank you too for your trust in Grab! For avid travellers, we have added Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to the mix, and are now present in 8 SEA countries, giving you a greater reason to tour SEA safely and conveniently. This wish really echoes our founders’ vision of providing safe and reliable transport for passengers not only from one location to the next, but also from one country to another.
Grab x Innovationmore_vertMalaysia and Philippines thrive on…
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Malaysia:”I wish to be a GrabHeli pilot though it is not available in Malaysia yet. Train me!”
Philippines:”Leading mode of transportation by air and sea!”
Did you know We’ve experimented with GrabHeli before! It started out as an innovative ride experiment in Manila, Philippines, providing Filipino passengers with an aerial tour of Makati City, Bonifacio Global City and Pasay City. We then piloted the service in Indonesia last year offering exclusive GrabHeli rides to our top users and driver-partners. This mode of transport could be one possible breakthrough solution to solve the intense gridlock situation daily in these countries. We’re studying the results of our pilot of self-driving cars in Singapore, and introducing more electric vehicles to bring down costs for our drivers. We’re also thinking about better connected car experiences, such as in-car entertainment, telematics for safer driving. Look forward to more tech innovations. Thanks for thinking big with us!
Grab x Accessibility</strong>more_vertIndonesia and Thailand aspire…
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Indonesia:”Semoga bisa menjadi transportasi penghubung antar Pulau /propinsi” (Hopefully it can be a transportation that connects islands / provinces)
Did you know:We are now in 125 cities and provinces in Indonesia! From Aceh to Jayapura, Grab spans across the westernmost to easternmost of the Indonesia archipelago and we are definitely looking to connect more and better serve local transportation needs.We are also looking into islands where accessibility is a problem for local residents. Pura Island in Alor District, East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia is one example. Consisting of 5,144 residents, eight elementary schools and two junior high schools, the infrastructure on this island makes it difficult for two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles to maneuver, hence boats become the main transportation for teachers and students to go to schools. Driven by the spirit of social bike pooling, Grab together with the GrabHitch (Nebeng) driver community donated two boats to make daily transportation more accessible. The solution need not be complicated, as long as it improves the lives of people!
Thailand: “แกร็บให้บริการทั่วประเทศไทย” (Grab services to be available nationwide)
Fun Fact: Nationwide – that’s our dream too to be able to serve more Thai consumers! We are currently in 16 cities in Thailand, from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, to our upcoming addition, Buriram. For Chiang Mai, we are happy to be given the opportunity to introduce hyperlocal solutions to better connect people in Chiang Mai with the transportation mode that they are most familiar with – RodDaeng or red trucks that can carry up to 9 people at one time. To make this a reality, we also taught local GrabRodDaeng driver-partners how to use smartphones and the Grab app!
Grab x Welfaremore_vertVietnam wishes for…
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Vietnam: “Tôi hy vọng vào sự phát triển và hợp tác lâu dài nhằm đảm bảo thu nhập ổn định cho các đối tác tài xế”(I believe that the long-term development & collaboration will bring stable income to driver-partners)
Did You Know: A glance at income growth statistics across SEA shows that our Vietnamese driver-partners are earning on average 55% more per hour than an average worker in Vietnam – the highest % in the region!Our driver-partners have always been the backbone of our company since our founding days, when we started with nothing. They believed in us and gave us a chance. We are happy to know that we’ve improved the livelihoods of many driver-partners in Vietnam, not just empowering them with better income but also a happier driving experience with Grab through our Better 365 programme.
Our care does not stop there, it extends to the welfare of our driver-partners’ loved ones. To date, we have launched many initiatives to give back to our driver community such as GrabSchool for their kids and GrabWives for their spouses.