From left: Mytaxi CEO Andrew Pinnington and Ireland country manager Tim Arnold. Image: Julian Behal
From now on, Hailo is to be known as Mytaxi and users will have to update the app accordingly.
Hailo is rebranding and its users will be able to migrate to the new Mytaxi app in just two taps within the Hailo app. The entire changeover process will take about 30 seconds, and business accounts will transfer in the coming weeks.
Hailo, which was founded by a group of London taxi drivers in 2009, merged with Mytaxi last year. Auto giant Daimler – owner of car brands such as Mercedes – acquired a 60pc stake in the new venture.
Mytaxi CEO Andrew Pinnington told Siliconrepublic.com: “Our goal is to create this pan-European scale player. Up until now, Europe was a very unconsolidated market but now we are a clear leader in the market.
“This merger brings us shareholders with deep pockets and, by putting it all under one umbrella and brand, it gives us the ability to invest in technology and develop the business more quickly.
“The aim is to create a strong core with a great deal of local flexibility.
“One of the reasons that the Hailo brand succeeded was because Tim [Arnold] and his team adapted the brand, so it felt more Irish. There was a great local, personal feel to how Hailo engaged with taxis and passengers, and we aim to carry that tradition on by investing in the team. It is a strong, local team that understands the local market.”
Hailo users can tap into 50 cities in nine countries
The new Mytaxi app, which is used by 10,000 taxi drivers in Ireland, will give punters access to a wider European footprint of 100,000 taxis in more than 50 cities across nine European countries.
Mytaxi Ireland country manager Tim Arnold spoke to Siliconrepublic.com, saying that Irish-based taxi drivers had been migrating over to the app in the last few weeks.
The updated app will feature views of all taxis in the city, automatic localisation of passengers by GPS, live tracking of taxis in real time, a price calculator that adds up the price of trips ahead of the journey and pre-booking.
“We have been working hard over recent months to smooth the migration of Hailo’s pre-existing driver and passenger base over to the new Mytaxi app,” Arnold said.
“Mytaxi will now be pushing to expand our 10,000-driver fleet and is already the most economical and efficient source of work for drivers. E-hailing a taxi is the simplest, most convenient, safest way for passengers to travel, so this is a hugely exciting development for Ireland.
“We’re looking forward to our customers enjoying some new app features in Ireland too, like sharing their location when on a Mytaxi journey and saving their favourite drivers,” Arnold said.
