Strategy Analytics’ Automotive Connected Mobility service released its H1 2021 Global Ride-Hailing Market Update and its associated Global Ride-Hailing Forecast, tracking more than 140 unique operators across 119 different countries.

Although 2020 was tough for ride-hailing operators everywhere, with a decline of 18% in worldwide total revenue (gross bookings) across the sector, Strategy Analytics’ global-ride hailing report and forecast comes on the heels of Uber’s recent announcement that March 2021 was the company’s best month in terms of total gross company-wide bookings. A rebound is clearly in sight, says the market research company, but the landscape remains forever changed as many operators have turned to the delivery sector as the key to long-term growth.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in the first half of 2020, global-ride hailing companies struggled to cope, with major ride-hailing operators like Uber, Lyft, Bolt, Careem, DiDi, Free Now, Grab, Gojek, Ola, Yandex, and more announcing precipitous declines in ride volume. Major ride-hailing operators adapted with large-scale layoffs, new fundraising rounds, and pandemic-related initiatives such as medical transportation, food, grocery, and parcel delivery.

Strategy Analytics forecasts that global active driver counts for ride-hailing services will grow at a CAGR of 9.8% over the next 10 years, with a global market recovery expected toward the end of 2022.

Global Ride Hailing Active Driver and Total Revenue Forecast, 2020 through 2025 (Source: Strategy Analytics Inc.)

Although a rebound is clearly in sight, global operators like Uber, DiDi, Grab, Yandex and more will look a lot different moving forward as each seeks so consolidate dominant market positions while fending off regional competitors. Food delivery is a focal point as it spurs the evolution toward creating all-purpose payment and finance-centric apps.

—Roger C. Lanctot, director of the Automotive Connected Mobility service at Strategy Analytics

Short-term pivots into food, grocery, pharmaceutical and parcel delivery clearly paid off, but driver supply is an issue as operators juggle historic demand for food delivery services with a simultaneous uptick in mobility demand throughout 2021 and into 2022.

—Ben Lundin, industry analyst for the Automotive Connected Mobility service at Strategy Analytics