It’s a known fact that Earth’s climate is changing rapidly right now than at any point in the history of modern human civilisation. Pollution is one of the major causes of global warming.
Consequently, mobility preferences are changing as the consumers embrace flexible transportation alternatives rather owning a vehicle at a massive cost. On the other hand, lots of cities across the world are trying their best to minimise pollution, traffic jam, and much more.
With actual ride-sharing, the mobile-phone ride-hail apps like Lyft and Uber have garnered consumers demand over time and have built a successful customer base. This intense competition among the players result in a price war, which means that our options are currently no longer limited to just Uber or Lyft.
A few days back, HERE Mobility, the mobility unit of HERE Technologies, announced the launch of their new all-in-one mobility app! Derived from “Social Mobility,” SoMo is a first-of-its-kind mobility app that offers a range of choices to move from point A to B. Having said that, it broadens options by showing Lyft, Via or other ride-hailing services, not to mention taxis or train or bus routes.
#1 First-of-its-kind mobility app
SoMo provides a single-app experience, amongst different transportation options, allowing users to book and plan a ride alone or with people in their social circles. For the first time, users can prefer who they ride with.
“Increasing the average car occupancy will make traffic jams disappear and will have an enormous impact on our planet, reducing pollution and making it much greener,” said Itzhak
#2 Carpooling gets a social makeover!
SoMo introduces a new mobility concept called ‘Gatherings’, an event that is defined by location, time, attendees and intent. This feature allows users to connect with friends and social circles based on common activities and ride together to a Gathering of any size.
Notably, a Gathering can be a one-time event, like a concert, a wedding, a night out with friends, or a recurring event, like afterschool soccer practice or the daily commute to work.
#3 Offers turn-by-turn guidance!
SoMo also functions as a classic navigation app offering turn-by-turn guidance and real-time traffic updates. Jus like Gmaps, the app pins the rider locations to determine the most efficient pick-up and drop-off routes based on full-route waypoints, time and distance.
This app also sends automatic updates about driver location and ETA, so drivers can navigate safely without texting while driving.
#4 Lets you create a social media-like feed
With SoMo, Here Technologies emphasise more social factors, as in, share riding with people you already know. In a recent McKinsey survey, 50 percent of ridesharers said social experience is a key motivator for sharing rides. Gathering page also lets people create a social media-like feed as too.
“Just as platforms like LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Facebook have leveraged social connectivity, SoMo taps into the power of social networks to reimagine the future of transportation,” said Itzhak.
#5 Things you need to know!
It’s worth mentioning here, SoMo is available for download globally on Google Play and the App Store in English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese (Brazilian). As of January 2019, SoMo will be also available in 15 cities to start, including London, Athens, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Nice, Los Angeles, Helsinki, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Almere Stad, Haarlem, and the Hague.
Undoubtedly, Uber and Lyft hold most of the market share when it comes to ridesharing app service, but there are possibilities for SoMo to discover its niche with carpooling and organizing for community events.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
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