Ride-Sharing Service Design

Functional Requirements

• User registration (riders and drivers)
• Request rides and match with drivers
• Real-time location tracking
• Route calculation and navigation
• Payment processing
• Rating and feedback system

Core Components

Location Service

• GPS Tracking: Real-time driver positions
• Geohashing: Efficient location storage
• QuadTree: Fast location queries
• Redis: In-memory location cache

Matching Algorithm

Factors:

• Distance between driver and rider
• Driver rating and acceptance rate
• Estimated arrival time
• Driver's preferred areas
• Surge pricing zones

Process:

1. Find drivers within radius
2. Apply matching criteria
3. Send requests in priority order
4. Handle accept/decline responses

Real-time Tracking

• WebSockets: Live location updates
• Event Streaming: Kafka for position events
• ETA Calculation: Dynamic route optimization

Database Design

-- Users table (both riders and drivers)
users: id, name, phone, email, type, rating

-- Trips table
trips: id, rider_id, driver_id, pickup_lat, pickup_lng, 
       destination_lat, destination_lng, status, fare

-- Driver locations (frequently updated)
driver_locations: driver_id, lat, lng, timestamp, available

Pricing Algorithm

Base Fare + Time + Distance + Surge

Surge Pricing:

• Monitor supply/demand ratio
• Geographic surge zones
• Dynamic multiplier calculation
• Predictive surge modeling

Scalability Considerations

• Microservices: Separate services for matching, payments, etc.
• Load Balancing: Geographic distribution
• Database Sharding: By geographic regions
• Caching: Popular routes and driver locations