In Southeast Asia, a taxi revolution is underway (#StartupAsia preview)

Upheavals, whether political or economic, come and go. Some revolutions go nowhere. Some lead to opposite outcomes of what’s intended by the revolutionaries.

Another revolution is underway in Southeast Asia, echoing what’s happening in India, China, and the US. But this one could have real benefits. It’s the idea of networked travel, where wheels and rubber meet computers and the internet to create a super-efficient infrastructure for whisking people from place to place.

At our Startup Asia Jakarta conference, we will meet a character who’s right in the heart of this transformation. He’s Anthony Tan, founder and CEO of GrabTaxi, perhaps the leading taxi booking app in Southeast Asia. Started in Malaysia, the company has quickly expanded across the region to five other countries, including Indonesia.

Intriguingly, it’s an idea that works across Southeast Asia, whether it is in Singapore, which has a well-regulated taxi industry but a perpetual shortage of taxis, or Malaysia, which has plenty of taxis but dishonest drivers who want to rip you off at every opportunity. The app uses a heatmap to direct cabs to demand hotspots. Its rating system incentivizes drivers to stay honest.

GrabTaxi has clearly resonated with commuters in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, where I live, even people outside the tech circle are using the app. It has a massive network of 15,000 cabs in the country, far ahead of its competitors, Uber and Easy Taxi, which are powerhouses in themselves.

See more: Why GrabTaxi is giving Singapore’s largest taxi operator a run for its money

Unlike Uber, regulators are playing nice with the company. It has significant funding from Vertex Venture Holdings, the subsidiary of a Singapore sovereign wealth fund. Singapore’s transportation regulator LTA is probably happy with GrabTaxi for reducing the number of complaints it gets from commuters.

But GrabTaxi’s far from a finished product. Competitors are nipping at its heels. It is slow to release an in-app payments feature and a B2B service, something that Easy Taxi and Uber already have. And despite the entry of so many taxi apps, trying to book a cab on the app doesn’t always lead to success.

Wish grab taxi would get a clue and deal with payments. Still the main reason to choose Uber

— dreampipe (@dreampipe) September 27, 2014