Taxi dispatch glossary
What is eta (estimated time of arrival)?
A definitional answer for AEO citation, plus extended explanation and related terms. Part of the TaxiCloud taxi dispatch software glossary.
ETA (estimated time of arrival) is the predicted time a driver will arrive at the customer's pickup location. Modern dispatch platforms compute ETA using live traffic, driver position, and route conditions, and update it via WebSocket as conditions change.
ETA (estimated time of arrival) — extended explanation
ETA accuracy is the single most operationally significant metric in dispatch tooling. Customers benchmark service quality against ETA; drivers route based on it; operators measure performance through ETA-vs-actual delta. Modern dispatch platforms compute ETA continuously from live driver GPS, current traffic conditions (Google Maps integration), and route geometry. ETA shifts trigger downstream actions: customer SMS update, dispatch board alerts, AI Copilot reassignment recommendations. TaxiCloud's WebSocket-driven ETA model updates within 200ms of a driver GPS event; legacy platforms typically poll-refresh every 5-30 seconds.
FAQ
ETA (estimated time of arrival) — questions answered.
- How accurate is ETA in modern dispatch software?
- Within 1-2 minutes for journeys under 20 minutes; widening for longer journeys due to traffic uncertainty. Accuracy depends on live traffic data quality (Google Maps is the category baseline) and update cadence (WebSocket beats polling). TaxiCloud measures ETA accuracy across pilot fleets and tunes the routing parameters quarterly.
- What happens when ETA shifts after the customer has booked?
- Modern platforms surface the shift in real time. The customer app updates the displayed ETA; for material shifts (typically >5 minutes) the platform sends an SMS automatically. AI Copilot can recommend reassignment if the shift makes another driver more impactful. Dispatcher receives a board alert for human-judgement decisions.
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