Uber – Africa Tech Digest

12Jun

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Ridehailing

Uber to remove riders with bad feedback

Uber has announced a new quality system to remove riders with persistently bad feedback. Soon Uber will begin notifying a small number of riders who have consistently received bad feedback from drivers, that they must improve their behaviour or they could lose access to the Uber app. With this new policy, when Uber sees a pattern of riders getting consistently bad feedback, they will receive a warning and will be given advice on how to improve, if they continue to receive bad feedback from drivers after warnings, the next step would be to temporarily suspend their account for one week and if still there is no improvement eventually face the possibility of full deactivation. Alon Lits, General Manager for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa explains, “We have recently updated our community guidel...

Motorcycles Enter Ride-Hailing App Industry in Nigeria

7Jun

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Ridehailing, West Africa

Motorcycles Enter Ride-Hailing App Industry in Nigeria

When a customer scrolls through the options on a ride-hailing app in Lagos, Africa’s largest city, cars are no longer the only things that show up. Over the past 18 months, motorcycle-hailing startups have become players in the city’s tech ecosystem, all competing for traction and market share in a city beset with some of the continent’s worst transportation challenges. By itself, the idea of an on-demand, flexible transport service to get around Lagos’ hours-long traffic jams and congestion is an appealing proposition for millions of Lagosians. It’s also cheaper compared with established car-hailing services like Uber and Taxify. To be clear, commercial transport motorcycles, known locally as okadas have long existed in Lagos, like in many other African cities where they h...

20Jan

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Apps, Central Africa, East Africa, Trends

Uber launches UberASSIST to help elderly and disabled riders in Nairobi

Uber in Kenya has announced the launch of a new product; UberASSIST a platform that caters for senior riders and riders with access needs in the wake of World Disability Day last week. Drivers driving on UberASSIST have attended dedicated information sessions and are better equipped to help senior riders and those with access needs to travel more effectively and more frequently thus enabling them to enjoy the freedom they deserve. “Everyone deserves an opportunity to travel freely within their own city, and with UberASSIST, we are able to provide reliable transportation to senior citizens and riders with access needs,” says Loic Amando, General Manager of Uber in East Africa. Continue reading Photo: Laura Dale / AAP

15Jan

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Apps, Trends

Here’s how tech is revolutionising transport for low-income communities in urban Africa

The transport and mobility sector have undergone significant change in recent years. Disruptive technology and the sharing economy have completely transformed the mobility space, creating new markets with a more on-demand, consumer-centric model. Taxi apps like Uber and Lyft have revolutionised notions of accessibility, convenience and predictability in public transport. But in South Africa, approximately 42.4 million people still rely on traditional modes of public transport. In the Western Cape province, 52 percent of households use minibus taxis (unscheduled privately-operated minibus services carrying passengers), while almost 22 percent of households use trains. Historically, the previous apartheid regime segregated South Africans by racial group and assigned specific race group...

Meet the 21-year-old tech whiz who’s coded for Instagram and Snapchat

5Jan

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Africans in Tech, Apps, Social Networks

Meet the 21-year-old tech whiz who’s coded for Instagram and Snapchat

Iddris Sandu has done a lot in his 21 years.Besides creating algorithms for Instagram and Snapchat and consulting for Twitter, he's now working with Kanye West and Jaden Smith to create augmented-reality experiences around music and politics for the tech festival ComplexCon next year in Chicago. "With Jaden, we are getting more young people to vote and creating experiences around that," Sandu told CNN about his work with the musician and actor who is the son of Hollywood stars Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith.Born in Accra, Ghana, Sandu's parents came to the United States when he was 3. He learned to code when he was just 13, during a work experience at Google eight months after the tech giant moved into Frank Gehry's "Binoculars Building" in Venice, California.For Sandu, it was a li...