What is HitchiGo?
HitchiGo is an application that allows users to propose or to ask for a ride as Hitchhiker. Ready to hop on board ?
Why this idea?
Initialy, this idea comes from a glance at the street during the summer holiday period. I noticed that a lot of people tried to get the attention from drivers that could get them to their destination.
Surprisingly, I never saw a driver pull over to help hitchhikers... I wondered a lot about hicthhikng, more precisely about how to be efficient in this area and the way people perceived this way of travelling. From then, I decided to help hitchhikers and discover more about this practice. I picked someone up to hitchhike !
The chat we had was very interesting. The moment felt like a true social experience and I was able to collect information about hitchhiking. This particular person was from Poland and decided to travel through Europe to get to Marseille. Eventually, I asked the "big question" about whether or not people were willing to take him in their cars.
"Not really", he told me
What could be possibly wrong ? A nice person like that shouldn't have any problem getting help from drivers. He later explained to me that people were hesitating to "take the big leap" because of safety, the "cost of opportunity", the inadequate place for stopping or even because they saw someone too late. However, in the end, this hitchhikers told me that he always had a great time meeting new people and keep in touch with them.
It is from this moment that I identified the needs of both parts (hitchhikers and drivers):
Create a feeling of Safety
Create precise location (hubs)
Connect both demand an supply
Kill pain points in the hitchhiking process
Create social bonds between users
What does the app look like ?
Please find below an overview of HitchiGo's user interface
Hitchhiker's interface
Driver's interface
Technological requirements to launch HitchiGo
Features
Splash Screen
Navigation
Native Map
Profile Page
Analytics
Sign-up and Log-in
Booking System
Push Notifications
Instant Messages
Why HitchiGo is unique?
HitchiGo is an innovative approach of travelling. Instead of an app connecting people to drive them from point A to B, we create an experiential journey. We definitely enhance the way people are consumming the HitchHiking by supporting them to create a connection with more people and by that offer them a more pleasant experience. As a differenciation, the app also motivate either the Drivers and HitchHikers to pursue and reach goals to gain rewards and participate to the ecological footprint.
What differs HitchiGo from normal carpooling applications?
HitchiGo is a platform for both drivers and hitchhikers without charging any one of these actors. Hitchhikers do not necessarily pay the drivers. Instead, drivers can get an unforgettable experience and "Green Points," which can be used for discounts.
Going Further...
Services Offered
The service offered is a service of car sharing focus on hitchhikers.
This will take place on an smartphone application. This latter will have some features such as:
- A GPS
- A points ranking
- A rewards wall
So, the application is in two parts, one is for hitchhikers and the other is for drivers. The driver use its application as a simple GPS. When a hitchhiker want to use this service, he ask, on the application, to be taken by a driver that is on the same route than him. Then, a notification pop-up on the driver's screen that inform him that a hitchhiker is available on its road and if he wants to take him. If yes, the path showed on the GPS is modified to follow the hitchhiker's route.
Identity
Benchmark
- Blablacar, Website, competitor but have to pay.
- OpenStreetMap, Website, for the map (opensource).
- Waze, Website, for the GPS part.
- Carpooling, Website, for the sharing.
- HitchHiker, Website, for the HitchHiker.
- Waze, Website, for the ranking point.
- WAG, Website, for the environmental gamification side.
- Ecosia, Website, for the green aspect of the project.
- Geocache, Website, for the use of GPS and the incredible intenational community and gamification behind it.
- Closca, Website, for the "green counter", the idea "together we saved".
References
- Jane McGonigal, 2010, Gaming can make a better world, Ted.
- Spohrer James C, Kieliszwski, Cheryl A, Maglio Paul P, 2010, Handbook of Service Science, Springer
- Safety for HitchHikers, Wiki.
- KPMG study on mobility (2030) Especially relevant for the mobility as a service side.