Tools Behind Building a Ride-Share App
Starting in 2009, when co-founders Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp struggled to find a taxi in Paris, they created Uber, a smartphone application for requesting rides. So, where are we today? The global ride-share market was valued at 42.9 billion USD and is projected to reach 96.9 billion by 2030. With leading competitors in this market, such as Uber and Lyft, other competitors focus on niche business models, such as female-only rides, business transport, or grocery deliveries, to give some examples.
You may not have seen this, but all rideshare applications share one thing in common: real-time infrastructure. You can view this across many features on the application, from GPS tracking, upfront pricing, driver profiles and ratings, and even in-app communication. Here are some examples and why this is the core for all rideshare applications:
You are probably aware of the first example, but riders need to see their driver's location on the map and the estimated arrival time. The application must provide an up-front cost when a rider books. The rider must know if the rate changes while the rider is on the booking page. You will often see an in-app chat so riders and drivers can communicate with each other, so they don’t release their personal phone numbers.
The Technology Stack
When thinking about building a rideshare application, the most critical piece is the tools you will use, as choosing the right technology is a crucial decision in the app development process. To make the correct decision, let’s look at the history of other rideshare applications and their development processes, including costs.
Uber was initially developed by four people: Garrett Camp, Travis Kalanick, Oscar Salazar, and Conrad Whelan. The initial prototype UberCab took approximately three months to build before the official launch in 2010. Although the exact development cost isn’t available, it is estimated that the MVP (Minimal Viable Product) took roughly $1-1.5 million in funding. The tools and technology used are listed below.
Uber's Initial Tech Stack:
PHP for the backend Linux for the OS Apache as the web server MySQL for the database
This initial monolithic architecture proved the concept but faced serious challenges when scaling due to the high concurrency of requests.
We can see from this that developing or building an Uber or any ride-sharing app takes a development team and a serious budget. Many businesses use third-party software tools to circumvent this to reduce development costs and timelines. You can check out my experience in building an Uber Clone using PubNub and the Google Maps API as an individual developer. With the right tools, I could significantly lower the development time and costs of hosting an Uber clone. To be fair, it is 202,5, and we have many more options for technologies we can choose from to achieve the same goal, which is why I decided to use third-party software.
Why PubNub Is a Game Changer for Developers
When Uber launched, scaling required millions of dollars and years of engineering work. Today, with PubNub, you can build the same real-time core in days—not months.
You can use PubNub to power any real-time feature in your rideshare application. Since real-time technology is the backbone of every rideshare platform, PubNub stands out as a key enabler in this space. Beyond performance, PubNub also ensures the security and privacy of user information through features like Access Manager. Below is a list of tools developers can leverage when building a rideshare app.
This isn’t just theory. Zoomy, a New Zealand-based rideshare company, uses PubNub to deliver real-time driver tracking and communication for two separate frontends of their taxi booking app.
“In the back of my mind, I was thinking, ‘Do I want to run a real-time network as well?’ Scalability, operations, and writing the mobile client on two different platforms, and maintaining it, felt like a stretch of resources. Because for us, real-time was one of many pieces of the puzzle.”
PubNub Signals
Signals are lightweight messages designed for sending quick, momentary updates. Available through the PubNub Core SDK, they’re perfect for tracking a driver’s location with latitude and longitude data. These updates can be streamed directly from the driver to the rider, keeping the map view continuously refreshed with the driver’s real-time position.
App Context
App Context lets you store and manage data (also called metadata) for users. This data can be managed using our no-code solution, BizOps workspace, directly on the PubNub platform. This means you can set up user profiles, track ratings, and more, which will all update in real time without needing additional databases. This can improve the overall user experience of your rideshare application and ensure all data is secure and compliant.
For a rideshare application, this unlocks the flexibility to:
User Profiles: Store details like a driver’s car make/model, license plate, or a rider’s preferred payment method. Ratings & Reputation: Update ratings instantly after a ride and ensure they’re visible to both drivers and riders without delay. Trip Metadata: Attach data like pickup points, destinations, or ride history to channels for quick reference.
PubNub ChatSDK
The PubNub ChatSDK makes adding secure, real-time communication between drivers and riders simple. While it can be extended to power features like profiles, ratings, and geolocation updates, direct messaging is the most common use case in a rideshare app.
With in-app chat, riders and drivers can coordinate pickups without exposing their personal phone numbers. Messages are delivered instantly and reliably, and can be enriched with metadata—such as ride details, driver status, or estimated arrival times.
Chat can also tie directly into geolocation events. For example, when a driver arrives at the pickup location, the app can automatically trigger a message like “Your driver has arrived” without requiring manual input. Similarly, drivers could be notified if a rider is delayed or has updated their destination.
Because it’s built on PubNub’s global real-time network, ChatSDK scales effortlessly, ensures message history is available when needed, and integrates seamlessly with push notifications to keep riders engaged even when the app is in the background.
Push Notifications
Push notifications can be delivered using PubNub for iOS and Android devices. This is important for two scenarios on rideshare applications: alerting users when drivers arrive and keeping them engaged and returning to your application. Think Uber Eats when they deliver a timed notification around breakfast or dinner.
Supporting Platforms and Services
While PubNub is a key player in solving scalability and real-time infrastructure problems for your application, you’ll still need additional services to handle mapping, routing, and payments.
Google Maps Platform
The Google Maps platform offers a suite of APIs and SDKs for developers to integrate Google Maps functionalities into their applications.
Maps JavaScript API: This is used to develop 3D maps on web pages and add tooling for location services.
Maps SDK for Android/IOS: For embedding maps and location services with native mobile applications.
Places API: This is good for searching for places you want to go or a rider's destination before requesting a ride.
Routes API: This calculates the optimal route between two locations. The driver must be using your application for directions.
Mapbox
Mapbox allows you to create highly customizable maps and attractive style options, which is great for branding because you can design maps to match your app's identity. This is something that you won’t be able to achieve using the Google Maps Platform because the design of the map has to be generally the same as the default one, with some exceptions.
MapBox Maps SDK (IOS/Android/Web): Interactive maps with offline support. Navigation SDK: Turn-by-turn navigation and route optimization. Directions API: Multi-stop routes that include cycling, walking, and driving modes.
HERE Maps (HERE Technologies)
If you are trying to deploy your application in countries like Europe and Asia, I suggest using HERE maps, as it has strong routing in those countries.
APIs/SDKs: Routing API – real-time traffic, public transit, and freight-specific routing. Geocoding & Search API – address lookup and autocomplete.
The drawback to HERE maps, primarily focused on transport and logistics services, is that they are slightly less developer-friendly than Google Maps or Mapbox.
Payment Gateways
The payment process is a heartbeat of a Rideshare application, but is essential, as drivers and riders will need confidence in the security of their transactions. Instead of building out a payment system from scratch, which would require compliance with PCI standards, payment integrations can handle all the heavy lifting. Third-party payment gateways also reduce the friction the user needs to go through in order to make a payment. Integrations like Apple Pay or Samsung Wallet will make it easier for the user to transact on your application, improving a small part of the user experience often used in e-commerce applications.
Stripe: Known for its developer-friendly APIs and documentation, Stripe is often the go-to for start-up companies. It supports card payments, digital wallets, and even recurring payments if you extend it into a subscription-model payment structure. Braintree (PayPal Company): It provides flexible integrations and a global reach, making it easy to scale internationally. PayPal: offers a familiar flow and user interface to users since many people are used to using PayPal and already have accounts set up. Based on brand recognition, users will feel secure in making transactions with a familiar flow, which can increase your riders' confidence.
Conclusion
Building an Uber-like rideshare application is a significant undertaking, but it is achievable with the right platform and partners. Even though you are most likely not trying to make an Uber-clone app, some of the development in this blog might help your application's development. What once took Uber’s team millions of dollars and months of engineering can now be prototyped by a small team—or even a single developer—in weeks.
In our own case, we were able to leverage PubNub and Google Maps to develop a working Uber clone in just one week with a single developer. That speed highlights the power of modern developer tools: they save time, reduce costs, and allow you to focus on what makes your app unique, rather than wrestling with infrastructure. Our step-by-step tutorial for how we achieved this.
The same principles apply when building niche services such as female-only rides, corporate transport, grocery deliveries, or experimenting with an MVP. Real-time technology, secure payments, and accurate mapping are the foundation of every rideshare app, and today’s ecosystem of APIs and SDKs makes those capabilities accessible to everyone.
For more resources for rideshare technologies and information, check the resources below:
