ONE of the newest e-hailing services has made its official debut in Penang with the launching of the inDrive Malaysia app.
Its driver operations manager Azlan Anwar and Southeast Asia inDrive communications manager Shaerine Irwina Kaur told a media briefing that it now has a 30% share of the e- hailing drivers market segment in the country.
By statistics, it is the second most used e-hailing service after Uber worldwide, operating in 48 countries after starting in Yakutsk at Siberia, Russia.
But Shaerine was quick to point out that its global headquarters was in California, US and its Asean regional set up was in Malaysia.
Why inDrive is optimistic of competing with others namely the Singapore-based Grab in the marketplace, was it arguably charges the lowest commission to the service operators.
As Penang grows as a key economic and tourism hub, inDrive aims to support its mobility needs through fair earning opportunities for drivers, accessible rides for passengers, and upgraded safety and tech features, said Azlan.
inDrive is now in all parts of the country except Sabah and Sarawak.
It has a base pricing but allows both the driver and passenger to negotiate prices, especially during the peak hours.
It also allows drivers to cancel orders based on reasonable reasons, and it has inbuilt many safety features such as a SOS button, live locations and keying in numbers of family and friends to monitor the live locations of the rides.
Shaerine said that the negotiation feature allows both the drivers and passengers to compromise on a fare.
"It is design to attain a win-win status for the service provider and customer," she said.
The briefing was held at Kingston Hotel in Air Itam. - October 28, 2025.
