Uber vs GrabCar: who’s speeding ahead in Southeast Asia? (INFOGRAPHIC)

GrabTaxi seems unstoppable. Fuelled by a huge round of funding, the company is strengthening its grip on Southeast Asia’s transportation sector. What started out as a regular taxi-hailing app has turned into an on-demand transportation service that includes private cars and motorcycle taxis for those needing to cut through the traffic.

Uber launched in Southeast Asia before GrabTaxi introduced its Uber-like GrabCar service, but one-and-a-half years on, GrabCar is catching up with Uber in its Southeast Asian markets and might quickly surpass it, since GrabTaxi’s overall footprint in Southeast Asia is larger.

GrabCar has one serious advantage over Uber that makes it more suited to the region: it accepts cash payments by default. This makes it more accessible to users in Southeast Asia, where overall credit card usage is low.

Road bumps

When it comes to the tech behind instant-transportation booking, Uber is the trendsetter. When Uber introduced masked numbers to ensure the privacy of its riders, for example, GrabCar followed suit.

Both companies still face legal issues in some Southeast Asian countries, though a breakthrough has been achieved in one country.

Will GrabCar’s home field advantage give it the upper hand in coping with local regulators? Or will Uber’s superior technology ultimately win over customers in the region? Which do you think will be the more ubiquitous presence on our smartphones in the years to come?