Uber Ranks Number One in ABI Research Competitive Assessment of Global Ridesharing Vendors - Didi Chuxing and Grab Distant Runners-Up

Uber is the clear global ridesharing market leader, with Didi Chuxing a distant second, and Grab pushing Lyft into fourth place, announced ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies.  In a recent competitive assessment, ABI Research analyzed and compared the strength of the current leading ridesharing providers worldwide through an analysis of their market share, innovation programs, strategies, and geographical reach.

Ridesharing services have grown at breakneck speeds over the past decade as an increasing number of people are using these services and bypassing conventional taxi services and other forms of public transport. “Although important, there is much more to future ridesharing success than user-base numbers and current market share,” says Shiv Patel, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “What is also important is investing in innovation, developing other on-demand services and other non-vehicle ridesharing modes, and building out the overall mobility platform. These combined with the development of driverless ridesharing will, in fact, be the key to success in any future mobility-as-service market.”

In terms of implementation of a true, global ridesharing service, Uber was at the forefront of global development, having implemented its ridesharing services in over 70 countries—more than twice the number of countries of the next best company. Uber also scored within the top three in the remaining implementation categories; Monthly Active Users (MAU) Average Net Revenue Per User (ARPU), and Customer Satisfaction. Didi Chuxing, despite having a large 52% global market share due to its dominance in the large Chinese ridesharing market, was found to be slow in expanding their global reach, impacting its overall implementation score.

Where Uber really leads the market is in innovation. Uber has been at the forefront of innovation in the ridesharing industry since its inception in 2011, through its development of the surge-demand pricing model, its application of trip optimization techniques, and its development of in-house driverless services. A mix of these competencies will be essential to unlocking future mobility-as-a-service business models, which will be paramount to the long-term survival of ridesharing services.

Grab ranked in third place. The company established itself with the third largest market share, behind Didi Chuxing and Uber and its high ranking was further helped by its commitment to developing its ridesharing service and other on-demand services. The company was found to offer the second most amount of vehicle options to consumers, after Uber, as well as offering other on-demand services such as parcel and food delivery. Narrowly behind Grab, ranked Lyft in 4^th place. Lyft was found to be a highly respected service among users, averaging the highest ARPU amongst all ridesharing providers, $167 per monthly active user as well as having the highest customer satisfaction.

Overall, the results showed that Uber is still the clear global ridesharing market leader. However, there are numerous players such as Didi Chuxing, Grab, Lyft, Careem and others that have clearly well-established regional services. Developing their local mobility platforms into other on-demand services and mobility modes. Where these companies significantly lagged Uber was in their global scale and investment in innovation, which will be key for success in future MaaS models. However, with the right partnerships and investment, these companies could yet establish themselves as global players as well as develop the technology that will enable them to establish themselves in the future mobility-as-a-service market.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Global Ridesharing Vendors report. This report is part of the company’s Smart Mobility & Automotive research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI’s own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture. For more information about ABI Research’s forecasting, consulting and teardown services, visionaries can contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.