It what is clearly becoming a battle in the ride-sharing market, Hailo is following Uber in allowing developers to integrate its taxi-hailing service in their apps and services, a move clearly aimed at boosting business.
It comes on the same day ride-sharing giant and market leader Uber announced it was sharing its API with over a dozen partners.
By partnering with developers, companies like Hailo and Uber could have access to thousands, if not millions, more potential users for their services.
"Our mission at Hailo is to remove the everyday, little hassles from people's lives," Hailo says in a blog post concerning the API. "Today, we are proud to extend that mission by opening our public API to millions of developers around the world. Through the Hailo API, developers will be able to integrate the key features of the Hailo experience into their apps, including the number of nearby drivers, the estimated time of arrival, and the ability to hail a Hailo driver directly from their app."
While the concept is not new for Hailo, having already integrated with Washington DC-based transportation planning app RideScout and transit planning app Citymapper, opening the API to the public should be a big competitive boon in a market dominated by Uber and fellow competitor Lyft.
The move comes as Uber and TripAdvisor announced an upgrade to the travel planning site that will integrate Uber into its interface, Tech Times reports. The upgrade will let users view fare estimates and wait times for Uber drivers as they move from one area of a city to another.
TripAdvisor's Senior Vice President of Global Product Adam Medros says the Uber integration delivers to TripAdvisor a better means of addressing all of a traveler's needs.
"We're excited to partner with Uber to help TripAdvisor travelers conveniently find a ride to their destination in cities throughout the world," said Medros. "Millions of travelers rely on the TripAdvisor app to help them plan and have the perfect trip during all parts of their journey, and our partnership with the popular technology platform makes our app an even more powerful travel-planning resource."
