Google announced on Tuesday that its Maps service will now support five more ride-hailing services, including none other than our local leader — Ola. The company said that new functionality is rolling out ‘over the next few days’ to Android and will be coming ‘very soon’ to iOS.
The five new services that will now be integrated into Maps include 99Taxis in Brazil, Ola Cabs in India, Hailo in the UK and Spain, mytaxi in Germany and Spain and Gett in the UK. You will get a dedicated tab for ride services that will sit beside the existing car, transit, walking, and biking options. In case any of the five mentioned services (or Uber) is installed on your smartphone, the ride services tab will enable you to see fare estimates and pickup times if a car is available near you.
You can then tap on the desired service which will take you to the app and hence allow you to book a ride.
The feature was first launched by the web giant in November 2014. It only covered Uber at that point and allowed users to obtain information like price and ride duration estimates for Uber when requesting directions. All this was available only if Uber was installed on your Android smartphone or iPhone.
It seems as if the feature was a hit as Google is now striking up new partnerships with different ride hailing services around the globe.
The service will also show ride service availability when viewing the map in walking and transit directions, and multiple ride services options for each provider. For example, if you’re using Uber you’ll be shown uberX, uberXL and UberBLACK for an easy and quick comparison.
Over the next few days, we’ll begin rolling out the new ride services tab on Android, and it will be coming very soon to iOS,
Holger Flier, Software Engineer, writes in the blog post announcing the feature,
So next time you’re looking to move around a city, open Google Maps on your phone to figure out your fastest mode of transport to get where you’re headed.
