Taxi sharing has a long history in Morocco. In Rabat and Casablanca, taxicabs frequently stop to pick up additional passengers and often won’t start their journeys again until the cab is full of passengers — even if there are passengers waiting in the back seat.

In some ways this custom is wonderful. It encourages affordable transportation and reduces environmental impact, but it comes with some downsides as well. It may be hard to find a taxi, or those you find may already be full. Your ride may take much longer than expected, due to other passengers’ stops along the way or a delay in filling all seats. And while riding alone is possible, it is expensive, as single riders are often required to pay for the other unused seats in the cab.

Ford wants you, the developers of the world, to help improve Morocco’s taxi sharing culture by creating technological solutions that focus on making shared rides faster, safer, and/or more cost & time efficient for taxi drivers and their passengers.

How your app enhances the shared taxi experience for drivers and riders is up to you, but we’ve listed a few sample problems you may be interested in solving below. So read on, code on, and ride on! 

Eligibility

This challenge is open to:

  • Individuals (who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry); Teams of eligible individuals; Organizations (up to 50 employees).
  • Organizations with over 50 employees may compete for the non-cash Large Organization Recognition Award.

Software applications that have been submitted to a previous Ford-sponsored competition run on Devpost and have won a prize are not eligible for this competition.

Ford employees are not allowed to compete in this competition. 

Requirements

What to Create: Submissions must focus on improving the shared taxi experience in Morocco by making shared rides faster, safer, and/or more cost and time efficient for taxi drivers and their passengers.

Optional Mini-Challenges:

Although you’re free to address taxi sharing however you choose, we’re especially interested in solutions which:  

  1. Help riders choose their taxi co-passengers, as well as where riders are picked up (on route v. via detour).
  2. Help travelers who arrive at the airport and take the train (or shuttle) to the Tramway into Casablanca or Rabat quickly find or schedule taxis for pickup from the Tramway stops.
  3. Improve safety for women riders - by offering a way to ride only with other women, etc.

Solutions that address one or more of the optional mini-challenges will receive higher scores and have a chance at the Mini-Challenge Solution Award; however, you are not required to meet one of these challenges to be eligible for a prize.

Submit the following assets:

Language: All submission materials must be in English, as well as all written materials. If the video, text description, and testing instructions are not in English, an English translation or subtitles must be provided.

New & Existing Solutions: Solutions may be newly created or pre-existing. If you are submitting an existing solution (developed prior to this competition), your solution must include new features/functionality added after the submission period began, which specifically focus on improving the shared taxi experience in Morocco. If you are entering an existing solution, you will be required to explain the new features in the submission form.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$60,000 in prizes

Grand Prize

USD$15,000 cash

Second Prize

USD$7,000 cash

Third Prize

USD$3,000 cash

Best Mini-Challenge Solution

USD$3,000 cash (Awarded to the app scoring highest on the criteria of “Potential to Assist with Mini-Challenges” that has not already won the Grand, Second, or Third Prize.)

OpenXC Integration Prize

USD$1,000 cash

Popular Choice

USD$1,000 cash

SUPINFO Scholarship Award

One (1) SUPINFO Scholarship for a 5-year, full-time program of study. (Valued at $30,000)

The SUPINFO Scholarship covers the cost of tuition only. The scholarship does not cover the cost of books and materials, or other fees. See rules for full details.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

How to enter

    1. Register for the Code for Taxicabs Mobility Challenge
    2. Visit the Resources pages to learn more about the shared taxi experience in Morocco.
    3. Find a teammate (optional). Do you have the UX chops, but need someone who can code? Are you a genius coder, but need some design flair? Join our Code for Taxicab-only Slack channel. (Click here for an automatic invite.)
    4. Build your app!
    5. Shoot your demo screencast video and take screenshots of your functioning app.
    6. Provide a way for us to access your solution. 
    7. Make sure your entry adheres to all the requirements and submit on Code4Cabs.Devpost.com before 5pm ET on October 4, 2016.

Judges

Bernát Szabó

Bernát Szabó
Managing Director, Ford North Africa

Abdelouahab Ennaciri

Abdelouahab Ennaciri
Managing Director of SCAMA group Auto Hall

Monsieur Brahim El Ouazzani

Monsieur Brahim El Ouazzani
Directeur pédagogique de Supinfo Rabat

Redouane Assakhen

Redouane Assakhen
Head of Companies Set-Up Department at Centre régional d’investissement de Casablanca (CRI)

Amine Raghib

Amine Raghib

Judging Criteria

  • Quality of the Idea
    Includes creativity and originality of the idea.
  • Implementation of the Idea
    Includes how well the idea was executed by the developer.
  • Potential Value
    Includes the extent to which the solution may help improve the shared taxi experience in Morocco.
  • Potential to Assist with Mini-Challenges
    Includes the extent to which the solution provides assistance in one of the Mini-Challenge areas: choosing your fellow riders, connecting with or scheduling a taxi from the airport or Tramway, or improving safety of women riders.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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