Yango (ride sharing)

Yango (an abbreviation of Yandex Go) is a ride-hailing service operating in Europe, Africa and Middle East and available via a mobile app. Yango was developed by Yandex.Taxi and launched in October 2018. Yango is part of Yandex Group, which has been called “the Google of Russia” and is also leading developer of self-driving technology. As of 2020,Yango operated in the Ivory Coast, Finland, Romania, Ghana and Israel, in addition to 13 countries where other Yandex.Taxi ride-hailing apps operate.
In 2018, Yandex.Taxi and Uber merged their ride-sharing businesses in Russia and several CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgysztan). Yango is outside of this agreement and remains a competitor to Uber and other ride-hailing services in the countries where it curently operates.
== History ==
Yango is the new brand of Yandex.Taxi, which was launched in 2011 and had more than 700,000 participating drivers in 18 countries by 2019. According to Yandex, the Yango brand was developed to be more flexible and universal than that of Yandex.Taxi, with an eye towards offering other services besides ride hailing in the future.
Yango's Software release life cycle#Beta|beta app was launched on October 4, 2018, at Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in French. On November 9, 2018, Yango was launched in Finland.
Yango was officially launched in Israel on December 10, 2018, competing with the Israel-based taxi app Gett. The Yango app was installed by 100,000 people in Israel after its local launch in just two weeks. Yango introduced a controversial new business model in the local taxi sector that offered passengers the exact price of rides known in advance (based on an algorithm that uses the length of the current fastest route, the estimated trip duration, and current traffic congestion to calculate the price). Yango's fixed-price feature has drawn scrutiny from the Israeli Ministry of Transportation on the grounds that it may violate Israeli law, which mandates that cab drivers can only charge the price indicated by the meter.
In June 2019, Yango launched its services in Bucharest, Romania. In January 2020, Yango obtained a two-year technical permit to operate in Romania in order to comply with new government regulations on ride-hailing in the country, after failing to meet an earlier deadline.
Yango launched in Accra, Ghana in June 2019 with plans to expand to other parts of the country. Yango representatives met with the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo during the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in October 2019.
== Special features ==
Yango uses its own mapping, routing, and navigation technologies, as well as a machine learning-based order distribution system. According to the company, these features reduce the time drivers spend looking for passengers, as well as the overall cost of rides.
Yango does not have its own cars or drivers, partnering instead with local transport companies and drivers to deliver its services. In countries where the company operates, Yango partners have opened dedicated driver’s centers where drivers can learn about the app, participate in training sessions, get answers to their questions or relax.
==Permissions controversy==
Yango asks for permission to access certain phone features in order to tailor the user experience. In November 2018, Finland’s largest national newspaper Helsingin Sanomat recommended not to download the app due to alleged security risks from data collection. Acording to the Yango website, the app requires that users provide a valid phone number, while other information is voluntary and can be withheld. The page also offers a step-by-step explanation of how to switch off permission to access various phone features (such as camera, location, microphone and data storage). Following an investigation, the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority found that Yango's terms of service were essentially the same as Uber's. Soon after, Helsingin Sanomat published a follow-up article where it compared permission rights requested by various taxi applications and placed Yango second after Uber.
== References ==
== External links ==
* Yango: Official website
* Yango On LInkedin
* Yango Ghana On Facebook
* Yango app on Google Play Store
* Yango app on App Store
Category:Ridesharing company
Category:Service companies