Grab's hotspot navigation feature shows drivers where they need to be

Grab Editorial
. May 15, 2023 . Regional

We all know that in the city, there are the one or two hours a day where traffic slows down and lines start forming for public transportation. But outside of rush hour, driver-partners don’t always know where to be to catch the next booking quickly.

Drivers have generally relied on anecdotal or personal experience to know where demand tends to spike over the course of a day. But this process doesn’t correspond to unusual pockets of demand popping up, and drivers who are unaware and not in the radius of a user booking may end up idling, wasting time and fuel.

To solve this, Grab has started rolling out a feature called hotspot navigation. Driver-partners who are driving around looking for booking requests will see a circle on their maps showing a live view of the nearest area to them where booking demand is high.

This supplements an existing feature we offer, where the driver app shows a heat map based on average demand for the past seven days. The heat map displays when the driver app launches, and has helped indicate popular zones so driver-partners can navigate there.

The new hotspot feature, in contrast, is based on live demand and not on historical data.

Driver-partners are urged to move to the hot spot in real-time.

Early testing of the new hotspot navigation feature showed that the vast majority of driver-partners who went to hotspots found jobs immediately.

In addition to driver-partners, the feature is expected to benefit end-users too. By increasing the availability of drivers in high-demand areas, it’ll raise the chances of users finding a ride.

The feature first rolled out in Singapore, and will come to other countries in the region soon.

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Komsan Chiyadis

GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand

Komsan Chiyadis

GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand

COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to the tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. One of them was Komsan, an assistant chef in a luxury hotel based in the Srinakarin area.

As the number of tourists at the hotel plunged, he decided to sign up as a GrabFood delivery-partner to earn an alternative income. Soon after, the hotel ceased operations.

Komsan has viewed this change through an optimistic lens, calling it the perfect opportunity for him to embark on a fresh journey after his previous job. Aside from GrabFood deliveries, he now also picks up GrabExpress jobs. It can get tiring, having to shuttle between different locations, but Komsan finds it exciting. And mostly, he’s glad to get his income back on track.