Grab launches ‘AI Merchant Assistant’ and ‘AI Driver Companion’

Grab has unveiled agentic AI solutions to help merchant- and driver-partners further unlock their potential on the Grab  platform. The AI Merchant Assistant and AI Driver Companion are intelligent solutions that  provide valuable, actionable insights to Grab partners and help them with day-to-day tasks. They  were developed with AI research organisations OpenAI and Anthropic, drawing on their latest  foundational models.

This comes as Grab expanded its collaboration with OpenAI, first announced in May 2024, and  signed a new strategic partnership with Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI models, to jointly  develop new AI solutions and test the latest Claude models.

Philipp Kandal, Chief Product Officer, Grab, said: “Our merchant- and driver-partners are some  of Southeast Asia’s most entrepreneurial folk. We want to equip them with the tools to succeed,  especially in an increasingly AI-centric world. The two agentic AI solutions we’re introducing  today are personal, intelligent assistants designed to help every merchant and driver optimise  their businesses and maximise productivity. This will help them focus on what they do best – serving customers. These solutions reflect our AI-First with Heart approach – our commitment to  solving real problems for the communities we serve, with AI at the core of how we work and what  we build.”

Intelligent companions powered by AI  

AI Merchant Assistant 

Grab’s new AI Merchant Assistant is a chatbot powered by Large Language Models (LLMs)  integrated within the GrabMerchant app to provide merchants with tailored insights and help  them handle daily tasks.

Most merchants on Grab’s platform are small businesses that lack the resources bigger brands  have to invest in advanced technology or the time to deeply analyse business performance.

The AI Merchant Assistant seeks to level the playing field by serving as every merchant’s 24/7  business advisor. It understands their individual needs and responds to varied operational and  business questions with precise and personalised recommendations, delivered in a friendly  human tone. It can proactively reach out to merchants with business suggestions, like how to  improve sales, in addition to helping them handle certain tasks like creating ad campaigns and  updating menus. Soon, it will also suggest financing solutions tailored to individual merchants,  including lending products from GrabFin and Grab’s digital banks.

AI Driver Companion  

Southeast Asia road conditions change quickly and can be challenging to navigate. Grab’s AI  Driver Companion features two new AI-powered solutions integrated within the Grab Driver app  to help drivers be more efficient and productive.

Grab’s new AI ride-guidance feature draws on real-time and historical data to predict where ride  demand will be highest. It guides drivers towards those hotspots more quickly and precisely to  find jobs faster. By taking the guesswork out of navigation, this feature also allows drivers to stay  more attentive on the road. So far, over 250,000 drivers across Southeast Asia use this feature  on a weekly basis.

Grab’s new AI-assisted voice reporting tool enables drivers to update Grab about road conditions  in real time. This data is crucial for GrabMaps’ accuracy. Historically, drivers manually submitted  information about road conditions into the Grab Driver app, which was unsafe while driving and  limited in detail. With this new tool, they can do so verbally instead, flagging traffic, roadworks,  flooding and more, in greater detail and in multiple languages.

Since its pilot rollout, this tool has received over 16,000 reports a day from more than 900,000  drivers across the region. Grab has received a higher volume of more detailed feedback from  drivers since its rollout, which has helped to improve the speed at which we are able to update  GrabMaps as well as its accuracy. GrabMaps’ accuracy is important for drivers’ productivity and  ability to serve passengers.

Solutions co-created with world class AI partners  

Grab’s AI Merchant Assistant was developed in collaboration with OpenAI and Anthropic, while  the AI Driver Companion was developed in collaboration with OpenAI.

With 44 million monthly transacting users across 8 countries and over 800 cities in Southeast  Asia, Grab offers OpenAI and Anthropic access to a large regional user base and real-life use  cases to train, test and refine AI models. Grab works with its AI partners to co-create tools that  merchants and drivers need to win across Southeast Asia.

“At Grab we’ve always believed that win-win partnerships help us go further, faster. By working  with two of the world’s foremost AI research organisations, we gain access to cutting edge  capabilities enabling us to create innovative solutions that serve our community. At the same  time, we provide our partners with real-world use cases and insights that help them to refine and  push the boundaries of their AI models,” added Kandal.

Grab leverages OpenAI models to generate tailored, accurate and relevant recommendations for  each merchant using the AI Merchant Assistant, while Anthropic’s Claude powers many aspects  of the conversations Grab’s AI Merchant Assistant have with users.

Separately, the new AI-assisted voice reporting tool for drivers harnesses OpenAI’s GPT-4o to  more accurately categorise different types of road incidents and conditions from driver reports.  OpenAI’s Real Time API technology also ensures this tool’s own voice communicates with drivers  empathetically and with lower latency, mimicking the speed and tone of human conversation.