By Elijah Odhiambo
inDrive, an E-taxi drive, has launched an annual global hackathon, InCode 2023, that seeks to improve safety and inclusivity in ride-hailing.
InCode hackathon aims to improve safety, advance accessibility, and propose innovative solutions to enhance inner and inter-city trips and delivery of goods through technology.
During the competition, leading ideas will be awarded €16,000 (Ksh2.3 million), and interested participants can register teams of 1 to 6 individuals.
The entries will be assessed based on feasibility, code quality, UX/UI quality, idea, and impact by inDrive professionals.
Phases of the hackathon
The hackathon consists of two phases.
Phase 1 (April 20 – June 4, 2023): Participating teams submit ideas and general concepts in the format of PowerPoint/ Keynote presentations.
Phase 2 (June 19 – July 9, 2023): Participants should deliver their prototypes to compete for the prizes. The best prototypes in each of the three categories will win prizes of €750, €1.500, and €3.000 respectively.
According to Alexander Lobashev, a Senior Vice President of Engineering at inDrive, the annual competition acknowledges the creative software developers and coders who have played a crucial role in the existence of ride-hailing platforms. The goal of inCode is to identify innovative tech solutions that can enhance safety, inclusivity, and user experience in ride-hailing.
“Ride-hailing platforms owe their very existence to the creativity and technical expertise of software developers and coders’ ability to dream up, design, and build global products, reliable algorithms, and user-friendly interfaces”, Alexander said.
“InCode is a way for inDrive to recognize the tech innovators who invest their time and talent to make ride-hailing safer, more inclusive, and better to use. We at inDrive are excited to see what ideas emerge from our first annual hackathon,” he added.
inCode is hosted on the industry-leading HackerEarth platform with a community of 7.6 million developers globally. More than 500 companies have conducted online hackathons with HackerEarth.
The inCode hackathon challenges innovators to:
Improve safety: Discover ways to make ride-hailing safer and more secure for all, so both riders and drivers have complete peace of mind.
Advance accessibility: Propose methods to make ride-hailing a more inclusive option for people with disabilities, as a lack of viable and comfortable transportation options currently hinders many from participating fully in their communities and lives.
Dream big: Determine what factors or features are currently missing from inner and inter-city trips and the delivery of goods, and discover ways to use technology to improve these services and solutions.
