Find out how Estonian Forus Taxi created a unique ride-hailing platform and improved its service efficiency and quality with the support of Google’s Mobility solutions and Globema’s expertise.
About Our Customer
Forus is an Estonian company offering various travel options through its app and dispatch center, from cars and drivers to VIP cars and transfers.
Industry: Transportation & Logistics
Country: Estonia
Solution: Google Maps Platform
Category: Professional Map Usage
The Story Background
Forus Taxi, formerly known as Taxigo, is an Estonian taxi service platform established in 2014. In April 2022, the company became part of Forus group and rebranded as Forus Taxi. It introduced an innovative business model that includes customers, drivers, and other contributors as co-owners through a unique crypto token program called US Token.
Under this program, participants earn tokens based on their engagement, which can be exchanged for company shares after five years.
Additionally, Forus Taxi expanded its operations by acquiring Tulika Takso, Estonia’s oldest and largest high-quality taxi company, in June 2021.
The company has also extended its services beyond Estonia, launching in Latvia and Lithuania in mid-2022.
Globema and Taxigo started to cooperate in August 2017, and the cooperation continues to this day.
Challenge
When Forus first integrated Google Maps in 2014, they used a basic set of services, including:
- map display for drivers and customers,
- route length calculation,
- estimated time of arrival (ETA),
- GPS coordinate translation into addresses.
In 2018, Google revised its licensing policy, introducing a unified model under Google Maps & Cloud Platform. This allowed developers to access up to 18 different Maps APIs alongside an extensive range of Cloud services. While this new model was initially beneficial for Taxigo, it eventually became a limitation for the advanced features they aimed to implement.
In 2021 Globema joined Google’s international Maps Mobility pilot program with Taxigo becoming its first onboarded customer. At the time, one of Taxigo’s biggest challenges was the increasing churn rate of drivers switching to competitors.
Many drivers were frustrated by discrepancies between the planned route (calculated by one service) and the real-world navigation (provided by another service). Because of this, they could not guarantee an accurate pickup and drop-off time or precise fare costs, crucial to a reliable transport service. Longer journeys and unexpected expenses undermined the customers’ trust in the service. This was leading them to seek more cost-effective and dependable alternatives. Over time, these negative experiences chipped away at customer loyalty, making it less likely for them to return or recommend the service, and resulted in earning losses.
The root cause of this problem was Taxigo’s reliance on Google’s public platform, which allowed developers to calculate routes but didn’t provide integrated navigation.
Solution
Taxigo joined Google’s Mobility program already as Forus Taxi. The program provided the company with access to all publicly available APIs as well as exclusive experimental, confidential, and hidden APIs. This enabled Forus Taxi to implement the Navigation SDK with Globema’s support and guidance. The navigation from Google provided drivers with the most efficient planned route and detailed real-time driving directions.
As a result, the drivers’ work comfort increased while the driver churn decreased. Customers, on the other hand, enjoy a more reliable service, with confidence in timely arrivals. Thanks to the routing reliability, the overall efficiency of passenger transport increased, leading to a smoother and more cost-effective service.
What is Google‘s Navigation SDK?
The Navigation Software Development Kit (SDK) is a complete collection of software tools and programs that allow you to use Google navigation capabilities in your own app. It helps you create a smooth, consistent, and reliable navigation experience, whether your business focuses on on-demand deliveries, logistics, or travel.
Find out more about Google’s Navigation SDK for iOS and Android
In addition to navigation improvements, under the Mobility program, Forus Taxi introduced the Fleet Engine service which streamlined the company’s operations by:
Connecting drivers and customers with the dispatch and back-office system
Optimizing driver allocation
Enabling real-time location sharing of drivers
Providing the most up-to-date ETAs
Results
Improved customer experience
Precise navigation enhanced service reliability, boosted customer satisfaction, and strengthened customer retention.
Higher driver satisfaction and reduced churn
Implementing the Google Navigation SDK with Globema’s support enabled drivers to follow efficiently planned routes seamlessly.
Streamlined processes and operational efficiency
The new solutions simplified workflows and improved the overall effectiveness of operations.
Enhanced connectivity
The Fleet Engine service ensured seamless communication between drivers, customers, dispatch, and the back-office system, revolutionizing operations and enabling 50,000–70,000 successful rides per month.
The Story in Stats
50,000
successful rides per month
3,000
drivers on the Forus Taxi crew
500,000
kilometers driven per month across the entire fleet
300,000
clients
With Google’s world-class Mobility solutions and Globema’s outstanding support, we were able to bring next-level efficiency and reliability to our ride-hailing operations. But what truly stood out was not just the technology – it was the responsiveness and commitment of the teams behind it. Compared to many other providers, working with Globema and Google felt refreshingly effective – real people solving real problems with speed and care.
Forus Taxi Team