#StartupStory: Get an on-demand designated driver with RYDD

Fabrice Ruscoe, CEO and co-founder of RYDD

Fabrice Ruscoe, CEO and co-founder of RYDD, shares the journey of the latest ride-hailing app in South Africa

Can you tell us about RYDD?

RYDD is a South African company to launch an application that allows a person to hail a designated driver at the touch of a button. This highly efficient and reliable designated driver app has just launched its service in Johannesburg and is expected to be launched across South Africa soon. The app was developed by lead developer: mobile, Bradley Goulding and lead developer: back-end, Stuart Jack

What sparked the idea?

We wanted to reduce the prevalence of drinking and driving by providing an easy way to request a designated driver to get you and your car home safely after a night out. Using a taxi service is always a good option to avoid getting behind the wheel after a few drinks, but it's not always the most practical option. It often means you have to leave your vehicle overnight at a venue, with the inconvenience of having to get back to it in the morning. The other option is to take a taxi there and back, but a two-way trip can be costly.

With RYDD, you can request a designated driver and the app will pair you with the closest available driver.

Can you tell us about the journey of getting RYDD off the ground?

We have seen how technology can fundamentally change the user experience and even an entire industry, as the e-hailing apps have done in the metered taxi space. Having the right technology in place can really grow an industry by attracting new users and new service providers.

We wanted to bring that to philosophy to the designated driving industry in South Africa in an effort to reduce the prevalence of drinking and driving. Although the concept of pairing a user to the closest designated driver is very simple in principle, the app is incredibly complex.

An app of this nature requires a high level of geo-locating and tracking of a significant volume of drivers, so the development timelines and costs were fairly significant. After an extensive development period, we’re really excited to be launching the app.

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What are some of the services that RYDD offers?

RYDD was designed to provide a responsible sober driver to chauffeur both its users and their cars home safely, particularly after a big night out. Users can hail a ride via their app on a smartphone.

Car owners may be reluctant to hand over their car keys to strangers. How do you ensure the safety of clients?

Our drivers have precious cargo to transport so we make sure that only the very best drivers join the RYDD team. Our drivers go through a rigorous recruitment and selection process. After successfully completing their interview, they are required to complete our driver training program which covers all aspects of our of the RYDD service including app training, customer service and driving protocols.

After completing their theoretical training, we assess their driving with a practical driving assessment. Once the driver has completed all their assessments, we undertake criminal background checks and driver license verifications on all drivers before providing them with the RYDD branding and access to the RYDD driver platform.

On completion on each RYDD, we ask our customers to rate their driver and provide any appropriate feedback so that we work with our drivers to ensure we continually deliver a premium designated driving experience to our clients.

What happens if one of the drivers are involved in an accident with a clients car?

We draw our clients attention to the fact that they are required to have adequate insurance in place for their vehicle which includes the use of the vehicle by a third-party driver. In the unlikely event of an accident, the client will need to claim through their own insurance company. The majority of insurance policies do not limit the cover to only the primary driver, but we do encourage our clients to confirm this with their insurer beforehand.

In our experience, insurance companies are usually very supportive of their clients making responsible decisions and not driving while under the influence of alcohol.

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What are some of the obstacles you've had to overcome since starting out?

Whilst we undertook a huge amount of user testing prior to launching to ensure we had a robust solution, there have been a number of scenarios that have only come to light in the live environment. Our ongoing challenging is to keep the platform as dynamic and responsive as possible so that we can respond to and address those issues.

The service is currently only available in Johannesburg. Will you be rolling out in other provinces?

Absolutely, the app was launched in Johannesburg and other regions will follow shortly.