As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in the first half of 2020, global-ride hailing companies struggled to cope, with major ride-hailing operators like Uber, Lyft, Bolt, Careem, DiDi, Free Now, Grab, Gojek, Ola, Yandex, and more announcing precipitous declines in ride volume. Major ride-hailing operators adapted with large scale layoffs, new fundraising rounds, and pandemic-related initiatives such as medical transportation, food, grocery, and parcel delivery.
The Strategy Analytics Automotive Connected Mobility (ACM) service report, “H1 2021 Global Ride-Hailing Market Update: Global Ride-Hailing Operators Navigate a Difficult Macroeconomic Environment,” estimates that global active driver counts for ride-hailing services will grow at a CAGR of 9.8% over the next 10 years, with a global market recovery expected toward the end of 2022.
“Although a rebound is clearly in sight, global operators like Uber, DiDi, Grab, Yandex and more will look a lot different moving forward as each seeks so consolidate dominant market positions while fending off regional competitors,” said Roger C. Lanctot, director of the Automotive Connected Mobility service at Strategy Analytics. “Food delivery is a focal point as it spurs the evolution toward creating all-purpose payment and finance-centric apps,” he continued.
“Short-term pivots into food, grocery, pharmaceutical and parcel delivery clearly paid off, but driver supply is an issue as operators juggle historic demand for food delivery services with a simultaneous uptick in mobility demand throughout 2021 and into 2022 ” added Ben Lundin, industry analyst for the Automotive Connected Mobility service at Strategy Analytics.