Two operating models
Autocab alternative for UK chauffeur operators
Autocab and Kairo are built for different working days.
Autocab centres high-volume taxi and private-hire demand, public booking channels and ASAP allocation. Kairo centres pre-booked chauffeur work, account clients and one record through the journey and invoice.
Research checked 6 September 2026. Competitor statements are limited to the sources listed on this page and should be confirmed with the vendor.
Start with the operating decision
Autocab is Manchester-based booking and dispatch software for local private hire and taxi operators, owned by Uber since 2020. The comparison below sets Autocab's high-volume taxi dispatch against Kairo's pre-booked executive chauffeur work.
- Public, phone and aggregator demand
- ASAP taxi/private-hire booking
- High-volume allocation logic
- Driver and white-label passenger apps
- iGo demand network
- Pre-booked and account enquiries
- Quote and live booking record
- Chauffeur, vehicle and partner assignment
- Secure passenger journey links
- Account invoice and operating record
Where Autocab still fits
Autocab calls itself market-leading booking and dispatch software for local private hire and taxi operators, established in 1989, headquartered in Manchester with 140+ staff, and says it operates in 33 countries. It's sold as a suite: booking and dispatch, a driver app, a white-label passenger app, automated phone answering with a voice-recognition virtual operator, corporate self-service accounts, analytics, and iGo, a demand network feeding incremental work in from aggregators including Uber, Gett, Addison Lee, First Rail and Arriva. Uber acquired Autocab in 2020; per Uber's own announcement it continues to operate independently with its own board.
Official Autocab site (opens in a new tab)Stay where you are if
If you run a high-volume taxi or private hire fleet where most work is ASAP, you need your own public booking app, and you want the iGo network feeding you jobs from Uber and the other aggregators, stay with Autocab. Kairo is built for pre-booked executive chauffeur work and has no demand marketplace to send you jobs.
Feature and commercial record
Kairo details reflect the current product and published Kairo terms. Competitor details reflect the sources below, checked 6 September 2026.
| Comparison point | Kairo | Autocab |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | £99 / £199 / £349 a month by fleet size, on the website, before you speak to anyone | No pricing is published on autocab.com. Capterra lists Ghost Cloud from $2 per vehicle per week as a third-party figure, not something we could confirm on Autocab's own site. |
| Contract / minimum term | Monthly or annual billing, chosen at signup | Not published. No contract length or minimum term appears on any Autocab page we could fetch. |
| Getting started | Choose DIY activation or the optional £495 Managed Launch with a written checklist | None. Capterra records no free trial and no free version; the route in is a "Book a Demo" form asking how many cars you run. |
| Done-for-you migration | Managed Launch: £495, written checklist with 14-day guarantee | Not published. Onboarding is routed through a project-management mailbox (PMOffice@autocab.com); no migration package, timeline or import documentation appears in their help centre. |
| AI quoting from an inbound enquiry | Reads the enquiry and drafts the booking, ready for you to price and send | Not from a written enquiry. Phantom's Virtual Operator uses voice recognition on inbound phone calls, with an optional "Use AI" setting; no written-enquiry-to-quote automation is described. |
| Per-mile + per-minute tariff engine | Yes, per-mile plus per-minute with vehicle-class multipliers, VAT shown either way | Not described as per-mile plus per-minute chauffeur pricing. Autocab is positioned for "local private hire and taxi operators", with dispatch logic built around ASAP work such as longest-waiting versus nearest car and demand zones. |
| Driver app | Driver web app works on any phone; native iOS and Android apps are live | Yes. Driver Companion runs on iOS and Android, including document upload and job bidding. |
| Partner / subcontractor job flow | Built in: dispatch jobs to your partner fleet, they accept or decline, you track the split | iGo is a demand network passing work in from aggregators including Uber, Gett, Addison Lee, First Rail and Arriva, not a bidirectional partner or subcontractor ledger. |
| Xero + Stripe | Native Xero sync and Stripe payment links | Not named. Autocab's partners page lists partner categories rather than named accounting integrations; no Xero or QuickBooks integration appears on it. |
| Getting your data out | Ask us. We'll export your tenant's data for you | Invoice and job export to XLS or CSV from the accounts module is documented; no inbound migration or import documentation was found. |
Published pricing
£99 / £199 / £349 a month by fleet size, on the website, before you speak to anyone
AutocabNo pricing is published on autocab.com. Capterra lists Ghost Cloud from $2 per vehicle per week as a third-party figure, not something we could confirm on Autocab's own site.
Contract / minimum term
Monthly or annual billing, chosen at signup
AutocabNot published. No contract length or minimum term appears on any Autocab page we could fetch.
Getting started
Choose DIY activation or the optional £495 Managed Launch with a written checklist
AutocabNone. Capterra records no free trial and no free version; the route in is a "Book a Demo" form asking how many cars you run.
Done-for-you migration
Managed Launch: £495, written checklist with 14-day guarantee
AutocabNot published. Onboarding is routed through a project-management mailbox (PMOffice@autocab.com); no migration package, timeline or import documentation appears in their help centre.
AI quoting from an inbound enquiry
Reads the enquiry and drafts the booking, ready for you to price and send
AutocabNot from a written enquiry. Phantom's Virtual Operator uses voice recognition on inbound phone calls, with an optional "Use AI" setting; no written-enquiry-to-quote automation is described.
Per-mile + per-minute tariff engine
Yes, per-mile plus per-minute with vehicle-class multipliers, VAT shown either way
AutocabNot described as per-mile plus per-minute chauffeur pricing. Autocab is positioned for "local private hire and taxi operators", with dispatch logic built around ASAP work such as longest-waiting versus nearest car and demand zones.
Driver app
Driver web app works on any phone; native iOS and Android apps are live
AutocabYes. Driver Companion runs on iOS and Android, including document upload and job bidding.
Partner / subcontractor job flow
Built in: dispatch jobs to your partner fleet, they accept or decline, you track the split
AutocabiGo is a demand network passing work in from aggregators including Uber, Gett, Addison Lee, First Rail and Arriva, not a bidirectional partner or subcontractor ledger.
Xero + Stripe
Native Xero sync and Stripe payment links
AutocabNot named. Autocab's partners page lists partner categories rather than named accounting integrations; no Xero or QuickBooks integration appears on it.
Getting your data out
Ask us. We'll export your tenant's data for you
AutocabInvoice and job export to XLS or CSV from the accounts module is documented; no inbound migration or import documentation was found.
Published strengths worth keeping in the decision
A fair comparison includes reasons not to move. These statements are attributed to the sources below.
- 01
iGo is a genuine demand asset, not a feature. It feeds incremental work straight into the operator's own system from Uber, Gett, Addison Lee, First Rail and Arriva, and the operator picks which partners to accept. Kairo has no demand marketplace and cannot send you work.
- 02
Phantom answers the phone. Its Virtual Operator uses speech recognition to take bookings from callers without an operator, and Autocab claims up to 70% of calls can be automated. Kairo does not automate an inbound phone line.
- 03
Scale and track record. Autocab has been going since 1989, says it operates in 33 countries, and runs very large fleets, its zTrip deal covers 3,600 vehicles across 20 US states. If you need proof a platform survives at volume, that's proof.
- 04
The dispatch engine is built for high-volume ASAP work: configurable allocation such as longest-waiting versus nearest car, demand-zone direction, driver bidding on pre-bookings, and destination mode for drivers heading home. That's deeper ASAP logic than a chauffeur-first board needs or has.
- 05
A white-label passenger app for public ride-hailing demand, plus a "Chatbot for Facebook" booking channel listed alongside their E-Booker product. Kairo does not ship a consumer-facing hailing app.
- 06
A mature business-intelligence product. Autocab calls itself the pioneer of the first business-intelligence tool in the taxi industry and positions Analytics as more detailed than anything else in the market, covering driver churn risk, ETA performance by period and lost work.
- 07
A corporate Accounts Portal with travel programmes, spend restrictions, custom validation questions and consolidated monthly invoicing for government and hospitality accounts.
- 08
Broad support and training options. Capterra records phone, chat, 24/7 live rep, knowledge base, plus in-person training, live online sessions and webinars, and Autocab publishes separate service desk, customer care and onboarding contacts.
A comparison is not a migration promise.
Kairo must inspect the source format, record counts, rate-card sample and access before confirming what belongs in a Managed Launch checklist.
Sources
Vendors change features, pricing and terms. Confirm current details with Autocab before making a decision.
- 1Autocab homepage (opens in a new tab)
- 2Uber: Uber to acquire Autocab (opens in a new tab)
- 3UK CMA: Uber / GPC Software (Autocab) merger inquiry (opens in a new tab)
- 4Autocab contact page (opens in a new tab)
- 5Autocab pricing page (returns a 404 as of 22 July 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- 6Autocab about (staff headcount, founding year) (opens in a new tab)
- 7Autocab: Analytics solution page (opens in a new tab)
- 8Autocab: E-Booker (Facebook chatbot booking channel) (opens in a new tab)
- 9Capterra UK: Ghost Cloud (opens in a new tab)
- 10Capterra US: Ghost Cloud (opens in a new tab)
- 11Autocab Support: Virtual Operator (Phantom) (opens in a new tab)
- 12Autocab: Phantom solution page (opens in a new tab)
- 13Autocab: Driver Companion (opens in a new tab)
- 14Autocab: Accounts Portal (opens in a new tab)