While the bus aggregator service Shuttl has recently gone through some tough bouts with personnel layoffs and route cuts, the company is still working on innovative technologies to provide a convenient ride experience. It is planning to use a sound-based boarding technology to reduce friction between commuters and the drivers.
This technology called ‘chirp’ will allow commuters to transfer their boarding details locally between two systems — the driver and the rides app, reports ET. This will help the company make the process of boarding and user identification easier while cutting down on delays stemming from it.
Commenting on the introduction of this technology, co-founder Deepanshu Malviya says,
Detecting authorised boarding is extremely important for us from a safety standpoint. Unlike a regular bus, where a conductor checks whether someone has brought a ticket, we were looking to completely automate it making manual intervention obsolete.
The company will place a button in the bus that the commuter boarding a bus will be able to tap, instead of manually showing the details of the booking to the driver. The technology once deployed will work well in today’s hustler lifestyle and effectively cut down on time spent manually checking each commuter’s individual app. Also since the users need to pay using a digital wallet service , this will make the whole process more convenient for all riders.
The transportation system across the world is still largely untouched by latest technologies. So, such a usage of state-of-art tech is unique to Shuttl and I am unaware of such a case elsewhere. In fact, it is the first adoption of a sound-based tech at scale in India,
further adds Malviya.
There are currently not many companies(or applications) that are researching upon a similar sound-based technology. Shuttl is currently researching on some proximity-based use cases of the technology while there have also been some early-stage implementations of the same as a payment solution.
There would then be no third-person interaction involved in the boarding process, making the ride stress free. Thus, this technology, if researched and implemented successfully, could open new avenues for Shuttl and make the whole traveling experience even more fun and convenient.
