New photo-sharing feature on GrabChat will better help drivers find you

Ever had to cancel a Grab booking because your driver couldn’t find you? With a new photo-sharing feature on GrabChat now, you don’t have to feel like you’re playing 40 questions every time you attempt to describe where you’re waiting for your ride.  

Aware that booking cancellations can be frustrating, costly, and unpleasant, Grab launched GrabChat in 2017, an in-app chat feature that allows drivers and passengers to message one another directly so they can, for example, find the best location for a pick-up.

The introduction of GrabChat has reduced cancellations

Today, 33% of all bookings in Singapore use GrabChat, and since its launch, the company has seen GrabChat make a real dent in cancellation rates. Across Southeast Asia, bookings with GrabChat have been proven to reduce cancellations by up to 50%. They’ve also seen the frequency of drivers cancelling rides because of  “passenger no show” decrease by 40% in Singapore. As there are as many as over 6 million rides each day, that represents a lot of people who have finally found their rides!

To push numbers up further, Grab has introduced photo-sharing to make the pick-up experience a lot more convenient for passengers and drivers. You can just snap a photo of your location and send it to your driver so that there’s no doubt which spot you’re waiting at. 

Grab will use your photos to enhance POI accuracy

Looking ahead, Grab will also use these photos to enrich and bring more accuracy to designated Points-of-Interest (POIs – the green dots!). This is important in a country like Singapore where roads can be complex, and pick-up locations may not be as straightforward as “in front of the mall”. With these photos, Grab will be able to better understand which locations are confusing, why they are so, and how they can improve them.

Grab also plans to let drivers share photos with passengers later in the year – for even less cancellations, and an even shorter time to find their ride.

Photo-sharing for GrabFood in future

What’s more? GrabChat and photo-sharing could one day be built into other Grab services as well. As a customer, this could mean you would be able to share a photo of your favourite meal so that your driver can help you find it and have it delivered to you faster, fresher and warmer in the bag.

What do you think of this new feature? Tell us in the comments!