THE POPULAR TAXI app Freenow by Lyft, has announced the launch of a set of new technological features designed to make trips easier, more frequent and more efficient for passengers and drivers alike.

Whether waiting for a lift home from the airport or wanting to add more stops to your journey, Freenow’s new advancements will make it easier and quicker for you to get where you want to go. The new features include the Airport Fastpass, a Multistop feature that allows you to add up to four stops to your journey, and the Fleetview Programme.

Airport Fastpass

The Airport Fastpass technological solution to improve the experience of both passengers and taxi drivers at the airport.

At the moment, many taxi drivers waiting in the virtual queue will reject low-value trips because, after waiting for hours, they do not want to lose their place in the queue. With FastPass, they will be able to accept these trips in exchange for priority on their next return to the airport. Removing this barrier will make it all the easier for passengers to get a taxi after they’ve disembarked their flight and want to get home.

Once they complete the trip and return to the airport, they will be placed in the Fastpass queue, which will allow them to receive a new trip from the airport much faster. 

Multistop

Multistop is a new feature designed to improve the experience for both passengers and taxi drivers, allowing up to four intermediate stops to be added to a single journey. Passengers can easily enter these stops from the app, while taxi drivers receive them fully integrated into their navigation system, without affecting the flow of the journey. This means that the next time you’re planning a journey, you can pick up friends and family on the way. 

This option is now available in multiple counties and towns throughout Ireland, making journeys more flexible, comfortable and transparent for everyone. 

The Fleetview Programme

The Fleetview programme consists of high-precision mapping to improve our route efficiency. Given the lack of public information on lanes and streets for taxi drivers in Ireland, Freenow by Lyft will map the streets of cities and towns to help passengers reach their destination faster and taxi drivers have more efficient journeys. 

This technology will use a dedicated ground fleet fitted with small Fleetview devices on the windshield to collect high-fidelity geographic data focused exclusively on the country’s road infrastructure (road objects, lanes, signs, etc.). This information is essential for feeding the maps that are integrated into the Freenow by Lyft app.

Danny O’Gorman, General Manager at Freenow by Lyft Ireland, emphasises the importance of the new tech innovations:

Our focus is on creating a seamless travel experience, whether through Airport FastPass, Multistop journeys, or our newest initiative, the Fleetview Programme. By mapping Ireland’s road network ourselves, we are enabling drivers to access highly localised data that can improve estimated arrival times, cut down on kilometres driven without passengers, and support a more efficient experience for both drivers and passengers.

The use of this programme ensures that map data is fresh, local and strictly complies with data protection regulations, including the GDPR. Detailed information about the data protection setup can be found https://www.free-now.com/mapping/

All these technological innovations are available immediately in the taxi driver app, setting a new standard of accuracy and service in the taxi sector.

Download the Freenow app today.