GrabChat is currently available for Malaysia-based users
Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab has officially launched its in-messaging platform called GrabChat. The service will be made available first to Malaysia-based Grab users.
It is currently undergoing beta testing among selected drivers and users in Malaysia and Singapore. And based on data from these trials, Grab claims that the service has helped save drivers and users 130,000 SMSes collectively.
It also claims that the number of cancelled rides have gone down significantly, though did not specify any figures.
To ensure safe communication practices (by reducing usage of phones while driving) GrabChat with four commonly used template messages for drivers and five for passengers. These include messages such as “I’m here”, “OK” and “I will arrive in 2 minutes”. Grab said that two-thirds of messages from drivers during the beta test were template texts.
“We’re seeing an increase in passengers using Grab beyond one country and the availability of GrabChat will help drivers without international calling capability communicate with foreign mobile numbers,” said Tan Hooi Ling, co-Founder of Grab, in an official press statement.
In related news, Grab has rolled out a motorbike version of its ride-sharing feature GrabHitch in Indonesia. Indonesia’s GrabHitch (Nebeng) will target the nearly 1.4 million daily commuters who travel from Jakarta’s outskirts into the city centre.
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