Auto app takes driver-friendly approach

Royalauto.in asks for subscription but doesn’t set targets for incentives

A Chennai-based techie has come out with an app catering to the auto drivers in the city. Called Royalauto.in, the app is a platform where drivers will not have any targets.

Virupakshan Krishnamoorthi, the brainchild behind this app, said that this platform is unique when compared to other apps that are available.

“If you look at auto drivers working for firms like Ola they are under their network. Here they remain self-employed drivers as we are just a platform providing them an app.”

Under this scheme, the customer logs on to the app, gets the details of the nearby auto, and calls the drivers directly.

“There is no penalty for the customer as they finalize the ride only after speaking and agreeing to what the driver says. The other apps in the market today charge a penalty fee if the customer cancels the ride,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi said. The 44-year-old automobile engineer said drivers are not paid any incentive. They have to pay a subscription of ₹10 per day to RoyalAuto.in and they can join or network.

“Since there is no incentive scheme in RoyalAuto.in, drivers need not slog long hours. Also they can work whenever they wish to,” he added.

In RoyalAuto.in, customers can see the driver’s photo along with details of the auto before even calling them to book the ride. In the last one month, the techie has managed to rope in over 700 autos from across Chennai onto his platform. He intends to promote this on social media and other platforms.

Scaling up

According to estimates, there are over 70,000 registered autos plying throughout Chennai and apart from this there are over a lakh autos running without permits.

Mr. Krishnamoorthi has pumped in over ₹60 lakh into this business. “The monies came from my ESOP (in his earlier organisation), provident fund, gratuity, bank loans and monies from friends,” he said.

Analysts tracking this sector said that the market is already flooded with many such apps and many of them did not survive more than a few months except the big aggregators like Ola. Tamil Nadu market is different, so we need to wait and see, they said.