No standalone GPS fitted in new cabs with foreign-based firms

Shockingly, the new taxis running in Delhi-NCR that enjoy lucrative tie-ups with foreign based cab services do not have ‘standalone’ GPS system fitted in the vehicles generally owned by the drivers themselves. 

The drivers use the company’s smart phones (usually an older version of iPhone) to detect the customer’s location via GPS. Since mid-November, Uber has started promotional schemes to lure new customers by providing first free rides in Delhi-NCR. “For all new Uber users, the code ‘FunkyTown’ will get you 2 FREE rides upto Rs 300 each to and from the party,” one of the promotional scheme says.

Speaking to Millennium Post, a former driver of Uber explained the functioning of the cabs and the applications pre-installed on their official mobile phones. 

“The moment we sign a contract with the company they give us an iPhone. The mobile has pre-installed applications including GPS, company’s application, navigator and other apps. Company’s server detects our location via GPS. Thereby, we receive notifications about customers who are willing to hire our cab services,” the driver, requesting anonymity, said.

Most of the time, the driver owns the cab so to earn handsome money from this profession he associates himself with three-four foreign-based cab services. “All the companies give us mobile phones and remain unaware about existing tie-ups we have with other companies as well. To avoid conflicts and continue our services with three-four different companies, we do not have a standalone GPS system fitted in our cabs,” another driver said. He is associated with Uber, Ola, Meru and Taxi-for-sure and operates in Delhi-NCR.

The pre-installed company’s app in iPhones (given to the drivers) is slightly different from the version used by customers. The latter uses the app to book the cab by sending his/her location which is then sent to the company’s server. According to the availability of the nearest cab, the request is flashed on the driver’s mobile and he gets 10 seconds to decide if a passenger is at a place that’s worth picking up.

“If we have picked up one customer via a particular company, we switch off other mobile phones to avoid exposing our location to other companies via GPS,” he added.

Millennium Post tried to contact Uber and other foreign-based companies providing cab services but they remained unavailable for comments.