eCabs Technologies strikes deal to enter German market though Taxi Now Frankfurt

A Frankfurt-based taxi dispatch centre is shifting its live operations to technology developed by Malta-based eCabs Technologies.

eCabs announced its new strategic partnership with Taxi Now Frankfurt in a statement on Monday.

Taxi Now Frankfurt will be migrating its existing live business to the eCabs platform and timelines for the migration will depend on several factors, including ride volumes and the depth of systems integrations.

Germany’s taxi market is still heavily reliant on offline booking methods such as phone dispatch, radio calls, taxi ranks, hotels and streetside cab hailing, which account for 70 per cent of all demand.

eCabs believes the market is “under digitalised” and ripe for disruption.

“Germany is one of the most operationally demanding mobility markets in Europe,” eCabs Technologies CEO Matthew Bezzina said.

“Successfully onboarding a live dispatch centre like Taxi Now is certainly a commercial win, but it is also an important proof point that our platform can indeed meet the highly challenging regulatory, technical and operational requirements of one of the continent’s most complex mobility environments.”

Bezzina said the deal with Taxi Now follows a multi-year investment into a Germany-focused commercial team that includes German-speaking support and operations teams.

eCabs Technologies also invested in product development tailored to German regulatory requirements, including taximeter integrations, tax authority interfaces, healthcare transport systems, and public transport infrastructure links.

Celestyn Pfaffl, Owner of Taxi Now Frankfurt owner Meycar GmbH, said the company had weighed its decision to migrate a live operation heavily.

“We were looking for a technology partner that understands the operational realities of the German taxi market, not just generic ride-hailing use cases. eCabs Technologies demonstrated both the technical maturity and the long-term product vision we believe are necessary to future-proof our business,” he said.

The eCabs Technologies ride-hailing platform is now active in Malta; Athens (Greece); Bucharest and Brașov (Romania); Berlin and Frankfurt (Germany); Bristol (UK); and Esperance (Australia). The company says it will be announcing another city launch in the Nordics this year.

eCabs Technologies is the tech arm of eCabs Mobility, a ride-hailing platform focused on the Maltese market. The company offers white-label SaaS tech platforms for mobility operators across the globe.