Resources

Taxis in Morocco

In Morocco, taxis are regulated by the local government authority. Larger taxis, called grand taxis, typically run suburban or city-to-city routes and can carry six to seven passengers. There are close to 10,000 grand taxis on the streets. Smaller taxis, called petite taxis, travel within a city and can carry up to three passengers as once. It is estimated that around 8,000 petite taxis run within Casablanca.

There are a number of different rules for grand and petite taxis, as they vary in cost, route options, where they pick up passengers, etc. Here is an article from HeyMorocco.com, which details the differences between grand and petite taxis.

Typically, each passenger has his or her own meter, even though the cab is shared. If a rider is lucky, other riders will be picked up near them and be traveling to locations on the way to theirs, or near it. If they’re unlucky, they may find their ride taking longer than anticipated due to unscheduled stops and re-routes to accommodate all riders.

Ridesharing and on-demand taxi services like Uber, iTaxi, and Careem are beginning to make their way into Morocco, but they’ve been met with some resistance from the taxi unions. Right now tourists are the most frequent users of these services. You can learn more about private taxi initiatives here.

Time lost due to taxi sharing can be considerable, based on your pickup location and planned destination. Generally taxis are most abundant in high traffic and populated areas. However, being located even a few hundred meters outside of a high traffic area may be enough to add over 30 minutes to the riders’ wait time. In addition, although it is forbidden, some taxi drivers may refuse to accept passengers whose end location may not have any new riders to pick up.

Rush hour periods in Morocco’s main cities (Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Tangier) can last 60-90 minutes.

General resources

Although no specific API or data integration is required, your solution 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.

Below you’ll find a list of Morocco resource data that you may choose to use in your application. This list is not exhaustive, and you may choose to integrate data not included below.

General Morocco Data

How Uber is affecting Moroccan transportation
Road Safety Annual Report 2015 - presents the most recent auto accident data for Morocco, as well as an update on the country’s road safety strategy and the recently implemented safety measures.
UITP: Mobility in Cities Database Synthesis Report – June 2015

OpenXC

OpenXC is an API that offers drivers more insight into how their cars run. Using the OpenXC platform, you can access the OpenXC data and start making vehicle-aware applications, even if you don’t own a Ford or even a car.

Using the OpenXC vehicle interface, you can read vehicle data in real-time — like the steering wheel angle, GPS position, and vehicle speed. Currently, OpenXC supports over a dozen different measurements on a growing list of Ford vehicles. To get started, review the OpenXC site to get access to OpenXC-formatted vehicle data, important documentation, and OpenXC FAQs.

Resources for native Android apps

For Android app development, make sure you check out the Android Library Setup and App Tutorial pages on the OpenXC site.

Please note that if you want to use OpenXC to interact directly with a Ford vehicle, you’ll need to download the closed source CAN translator firmware directly from Ford and sign a developer agreement.

Resources for web apps and testing

Drive traces: For web app integration and testing, you can use replayed trace data from previously recorded drives. You can find several driving datasets on the OpenXC site. Please visit: http://openxcplatform.com/resources/traces.html
Crash simulation library: This set of Android code provides crash notifications to the registered applications. You can use this code to trigger crash scenarios and have your application respond to them. Check out the Git repository to view the documentation and learn more.

And more…

OpenXC data outputs and dataset
An example of a Web app that can receive OpenXC data, record it to a disk, and visualize it.

SYNC® AppLink™

SYNC AppLink is a suite of APIs that provides the capability for mobile developers to AppLink-enable their mobile applications. Developers have the ability to extend the command and control of the mobile application’s features to the vehicle occupants in a responsible, non-distracting way through the use of familiar in-vehicle Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) such as SYNC Voice Command, Steering wheel and radio buttons.

The applications run on the mobile device without the need to install any third party software on the vehicle head unit. The AppLink APIs exchange program data as well as command and control information over a known transport layer, allowing SYNC to exchange messages with an AppLink-enabled application in a pre-determined format. This technology is similar to how Bluetooth phones and digital media are integrated and used on the SYNC production platform.

Using the recently released SYNC 3 AppLink Emulator, developers can now test how their AppLink-enabled appswill look and work on a SYNC 3 interface – without access to an actual vehicle. The emulator allows a smartphone to connect to a computer – just like it would normally connect to SYNC 3. The software platform then mimics SYNC 3 by connecting to the app running from the phone. You can set certain conditions – such as vehicle speed, location, temperature and mileage – to test how your app responds to each.

You can download the emulator at https://developer.ford.com/pages/ale — you’ll need a Ford Developer account for access (create a developer account here).

Non-distracting in-vehicle interfaces

If your application is intended for use while driving, the Application must conform to In-Vehicle Approval Criteria from Ford for safe and non-distracting in-vehicle interfaces. (Note that a free Ford Developer Account is required to access these criteria. You can create a free Ford Developer Account at https://developer.ford.com/register.) For more information, see the national generally accepted principles for in-vehicle interfaces.

Awards Partner

SUPINFO Institute of Information Technology is a global Computer Science Academic Institution that has its own international network dedicated to information technology, with campus in the UK, Canada, the US, Belgium, Italy, France and Morocco. SUPINFO is specialized in general IT, integrating multiple specialties that make up today's IT ecosystem into the courses it provides, such as: software engineering, system and network, artificial intelligence, data analysis, internet and intranet technologies, business intelligence, ERP and multimedia. SUPINFO are an awards sponsor for this Hackathon providing one scholarship to a 5 Year full-time program of study valued at $30,000.