A Complete Guide On Transportation App Development

Mobile applications have won the hearts of users.  Why? Because of its simplicity, time-saving, accessibility, affordability, and convenience on the go.  Over the years, many enterprises and startups opted for Uberification, and so does the transportation industry.  Traditionally, this sector has faced ample problems like manual intervention, paperwork, time-consumption, proof of delivery, and whatnot.  And that instigated for transportation app development, which is a breakthrough.  

Undoubtedly, the logistic or transportation operation is widespread and contributes millions to the economy.  According to research, it is expected that the logistic operations would reach a market size of $12,975.64Bn by the end of 2027.  So, it becomes an opportunity for transportation companies to develop a mobile application.

Are you planning to build a mobile transport app for your logistics business?

Do you want to offer hassle-free transportation & logistics service to your customers on their fingertips?

Looking for transportation and logistics mobile apps development services?

If yes, then you are on the right page.  This article will discuss in-depth about app development for transportation.  A custom solution for all the hassles that were traditionally borne by transporters or customers.

The logistics and transports business depends entirely on inventories that are either at the warehouse or in transit. And tracking them manually would drain away a lot of time and effort. Plus, goods in transit are hard to track, unless you are connected with the driver over the call.

Here, a transportation and logistics mobile app could do wonders and become a one-stop solution for all transportation app-related problems. Also, there will be less paperwork and manual intervention required with the help of apps.  Besides, the question of proof of deliveries will automatically be resolved.

It becomes a need to have an app for the logistics business as the customers would be expecting apps for any services that they want to render.  And failing to offer mobile service could result in losing customers.

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Now that you know the need to have a logistics app, it becomes necessary to understand what are the steps for building an app?

How to Create a Transportation App in 5 Steps

To perform seamless development, it is essential to follow the right steps. The below image will offer you an overview of the 5 essential steps.

1. Define Your Objective

   First of all, it becomes important to understand for whom you would want to build a transport app.  There can be two ways to ponder upon and build an app.

   • Build for own transportation business, i.e., the solo app only to track fleet, driver, and allow specific customers to track their consignment/cargo.
   • To sell the product as a service (SaaS) to other logistics and monetize the app.

2. Understand Your Target Audience

   Here, as a transport business owner, you should understand who your target audiences are?  Without having a proper idea, the efforts and money invested in fleet management software development would not be worthy.

   On the other hand, as an entrepreneur, your target audience would be solely logistics & transport companies. They would be the ones whom you have to convince by listing down the features that can allure them to become your potential customer.

3. List Down Features

   The logistic management system consists of multiple features that can be categorized into three different panels:

   • Admin Panel (Management of fleet, driver, inventory, order, and payments)
   • Customer Panel (Booking fleet, tracking orders, etc)
   • Driver Panel (Verify order details, navigation, etc)

4. Technology Integration

   Building a mobile app requires clubbing of various technologies that look after specific requirements of mobile applications.  This includes

   • Operating Systems: Android, iOS, Windows
   • Types of apps: Native, Hybrid, Web
   • Payments: Credit/Debit Card, Paypal, Stripe, Mobile Wallet, COD
   • Database: MongoDB, SQL
   • Cloud Storage: AWS or Google Cloud
   • Real-Time Analytics: Hadoop

5. Find A Tech Partner

   Last but not the least, you should look for a transportation app software development company that is reliable and equally responsible.  Also, you should look for how many years of experience the company has, and how many transportation mobile apps have been developed by the company.

   Another way to build logistics apps is by hiring a freelance developer, but that would probably hit your budget and is also time-consuming. In addition, hiring a developer would not suffice, you should also look for a designer and other individuals, who have mastered building transportation applications.

   The above-mentioned steps could have answered your question: how do I make an app like Uber?  And still, if you require more information, then below mentioned features could be the cherry on the cake for you.

Salient Features of Transportation App Development

The below image will help you to gather the gist of features that are a must to include in transportation app development.

The logistics industry deals with mainly two parties, i.e., Customers and Drivers.  And both stakeholders are accountable for the successful running of the transportation sector.  Also, these parties have their own set of tasks for which different features need to be designed.

Moreover, managing and handling their operations requires an admin, who is none other than, the transportation and logistics company itself.  So, now that you know that developing an uber freight app requires three panels, let’s have a look at its features.

Admin Panel

1. Dashboard

   A screen from where an admin can keep an eagle’s eye on various activities.  The entire management is in the hands of the admin.  From the same screen, the admin can have a look at the incoming orders, orders dispatched, and delivered orders.  Also, the admin can track the drivers and fleet anytime with the help of GPS technology.

2. Fleet Management

   Fleet management is one of the crucial features of transport app development.  It allows the admin to know the real-time location of their fleet.  It can help the admin to guide the drivers with the shortest possible routes.  With the help of fleet management, one can easily connect with the drivers through apps eliminating connection over phone calls like the old snail-way.

3. GPS and Navigation System

   Transportation and GPS technology functions parallelly. And it becomes necessary to have a GPS feature in transportation apps. It can aid drivers by showing them the possible routes, and also the traffic data.  And most importantly, it helps in navigating, tracking, monitoring, and managing fleet movements.

4. Managing Drivers

   The logistics business has numerous staff members and the majority part includes drivers. It becomes a duty of Admin to gather the information of their drivers. The information includes:

   • Name
   • Phone Number
   • Address
   • License Number
   • Allotted Vehicle
   • Occupied/Available

   These are the basic data that need to be collected by the admin in order to manage drivers’ profiles. Apart from this, assigning trucks or changes in wages can also be made from the same screen.

5. Chat Functionality

   Admins are the ones who will be in constant touch with their drivers and customers.  And developing an app without chat functionality would be useless.  If the customer or driver is in the middle of a query, then the chat feature would resolve it in real-time.

6. Managing Income & Expenditure

   The logistics business would have ample expenditure and it becomes vital to manage all the transactions. Admins are accountable for approving and disapproving driver’s expenses, toll tax, fuel charges, etc. All right reserved by the admins on the part of income and expenditure management. Also, the logistics app can be integrated with AI-technology for improving and automating the accounting analysis. It helps in understanding the profit/loss ratio after evaluating the different parameters.

7. Push Notifications

   Push Notifications are a way to attract customers.  And it is one of the advantages as well.  Customers can get regular updates on their orders and transit.  Also, it can send driver details, invoice, and deliver status.

8. M2M Communication

   Many of you might be confused with the M2M term. Well, it’s not mobile to mobile but it is a machine to machine communication.  And that helps the admin to know the status and condition of the vehicle, remotely.

Customer Panel

1. Sign Up

   The registration process to become a member of the app should be simple and easy. Also, it should not be time-consuming. And integrating social media signup would attract more customers as it would save a lot of time for the customers.  Through this, as an app owner, you would be able to fetch the name, email address, social media account details of your valuable customers.

2. Notify Users

   This feature would alert the user at various intervals such as booking, receiving invoices, order dispatch, and delivery.  Also, this feature can be optimally used by sending the updated status of the driver and vehicle.

3. Payment Gateway

   Like all other on demand logistics apps, the payment gateway should be included at the time of uber trucking app development.  The feature focuses on payment through the app by eliminating the hassle to carry cash.  It allows customers to pay through plastic cards, mobile wallets, or Paypal.

4. Monitoring/Tracking

   Tracking the order feature gives a sense of safety and security to the customer.  And including this feature could boost the relationship and build trust in the minds of the customer.  An on-time tracking could give an idea to the customer about the estimated time of delivery and driver location.

5. Feedback & Suggestions

   The feedback feature is as equally important for the transportation industry as the revenue.  And not only us but the CEO of HubSpot, Brian Halligan says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”  Here, the customers would be sharing experience and areas of improvement, which if pondered upon, could turn your simple app into the best transportation and logistic app.

Driver Panel

1. Registration

   The registration feature for the driver is important as it will only allow the driver employed in your logistics business.  The drivers need to sign up with email, phone number, or through social media.

2. Drivers’ Profile

   As the admin can add the driver’s profile but there should be a feature on the drivers’ panel as well. He/she can also be able to add their details manually in the app.  The information will be stored in the app’s backend.

3. Product Delivery Screen

   The product delivery screen in the app will show the newly allotted product to deliver with the shipping address, customer name,  and phone number.  This screen will help the drivers to see a list of scheduled and upcoming deliveries with specific information.  Drivers can plan their delivery and dispatch the order on time.

4. Electronic Proof of Delivery

   Traditionally, delivery guys were held responsible if there was the theft of the product, and it was a hectic job for them.  But with logistics app development and AI technology, the task was made easy. Now, the job of the driver is simplified and there is no risk at all.

   With the mobile transport app, the driver needs to capture a photo, ask for a signature, or scan a barcode to justify it as proof of delivery.  And this data will be automatically stored in the app’s backend.

5. Push Notifications

   Like Push Notification helps customers to know the orders dispatch or in-transit, it also helps drivers’ to know:

   • Assigned orders
   • Alterations in scheduled orders
   • Message from customer or admin

   Also, it notifies the driver about anything important from the notification bar itself, which means the app need not be open.

You might have seen how to build a mobile transportation application and its mandatory features everywhere, but this article stands apart from others as it has special tips that can build the best public transportation apps.

6 Tips to Consider For Transportation App Development

In this section, we will be discussing the 6 tips, which will help you to develop a feature-rich transportation mobile app. Let us understand each feature comprehensively.

1. Simplify Your App

   Nobody likes an application that is tricky and complicated.  Obviously, customers download applications in order to render service, and if that objective takes more time than expected, then it is a loss to the business.

   On average, 77% of the users abandoned the app within 3 days of installation. Why? Because of its complexity and difficulty in navigating.

   So, how to make the app simple yet intuitive?

   • App Development should be limited to relevant features
   • Streamline auxiliary processes to cut short customer’s time
   • Accept & Implement meaningful suggestions of users
   • Less unwanted requests & quick execution of service
   • Avoid frequent updates to the app

   The simple UI/UX would be more attractive than the fancy ones because the former would help users easily navigate the app.  It will allow users to simply download, install, and start using without any additional permission.

2. Responsive Design

   Another tip for building the best transport application is highly intuitive design.  Here, user experience matters the most in deciding the success/failure of the app development.  As there are myriad devices with different resolutions, the app should be constructed keeping that in mind. And this can be done by outsourcing the project to one of the leading app making companies after thorough market research.

3. Loading Time

   This is one of the crucial and attention-seeking factors for successful app development.  Another setback for app development is loading time – if an app takes more than a few seconds to load, then there are high chances of permanently losing customers.

   The transportation business is dynamic in nature and requires a quick execution of tasks. So, it is suggested that the app loading time should be lesser. For instance, ads, analytics, images, fields, and server connections should be tested before releasing an app.

4. Ubiquitous Development

   The budget plays an important role in app development. With good financial flow, you can definitely go ahead and build for different operating systems. But, if the budget is a constraint, then you should target either cross-platform app development or a single native app.  Even native apps can bring wonders to the business.

   In case if you are not sure about which technology to choose or how you can progress with your idea, contact feels free to contact a reliable transportation app development company.

   Since a well-founded transportation app development company with experienced mobile app developers will help you to suggest new basic and advanced features. Also, give you tips to make the app development process effective. Here are the 3 tips to consider while developing a logistics management app.

   • Integrate GPS tracker
   • Streamline data updates using barcode scanning
   • Submit inspection submission reports in real-time

5. Feedback Matters

   According to the American singer and songwriter, Wendy Starland, “To get to the next level, you have to take constructive criticism from others.”
   By taking constructive criticism, you are prioritizing your users and offering them a chance to share their experience about using your application. That is the roadmap to improve your application and grow your user base. By listening to user’s feedback, you will understand what features and functionalities users want. That will help you to reduce research time and provide the sure-shot solution directly from the end-user.

   To streamline your customer feedback options, here are the 3 tools to include in your transportation mobile app.

   • Mopinion
   • Apptentive
   • Doorbell

   The below templates will help you to take customer feedback effectively.

   • Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
   • Customer effort score (CES)
   • Goal completion rate (GCR)
   • Content measurement (CM)

6. Integrate Social Media

   Social media plays an essential role for businesses and their users. Hence, it is a must to integrate social media platforms into your transportation and logistic app. Around 54% of users across the globe are on social media, which means nearly nearly 3.6 billion people are using social media.

   It is consistently increasing. Hence, to scale your user base in the future, in transportation mobile app development, it is vital to integrate social media tools. Let’s understand the benefits of integrating social media tools in your on demand logistic app.

   Benefits of integrating social media tools:

   • Makes it easier for users to log in via social media account
   • Increases overall engagement of your transportation mobile app
   • Helps you to inform your users via weekly emails by building social community (No Spamming!)

   To summarize, if you want to maximize the benefits and focus on mobile app user acquisition and user base growth, consider integrating social media platforms.

Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly asked questions about transport management apps.

Conclusion

The transportation sector has also been an investor in building mobile applications and earning a great ROI. As the industry is growing, there is no doubt that with the help of mobile technology, it will grow leaps and bounds.

Still, confused? Connect with the leading mobile app development company that has more than decades of experience. The team of adroit developers has excelled in converting ideas into applications.  Also, building more than 50 uber-like applications that are highly advanced and feature-rich is an added advantage.  These are the One8 Transportation Management System, Baloora- School Bus Tracking App, and many more.

One8

• One-stop solution for logistics
• Built apps for different stakeholders (Admin, Customer & Driver)
• Automated business process
• Increased fuel efficiency & productivity

Baloora

• School vehicle tracking application
• Highly advanced & feature-rich app development
• Track children & notify parents
• GPS tracking & alert notification

In case, if you still have confusion, then you can connect with us through our contact us form. One of our experts will connect with you for further discussion. The consultation is totally free of cost.