The mobility industry is witnessing a revolutionary growth, and car rental companies are further accelerating this space. Here’s a quick overview of our conversation with Soham Shah, Founder and CEO of Selfdrive who offers deep insights on his company, the industry and the way forward.

About Soham Shah

Soham Shah is the CEO of Selfdrive. In his role as a CEO, Soham leads and supervise all strategic and business-related aspects of the company. Soham has led Selfdrive to a number of milestone achievements, where the company has transitioned to a tech-first business and introduced the region to a new mechanism to avail customised cars.

A quick Summary of career advancement 

Soham Shah is the CEO of Selfdrive, the largest dealer authorized car subscription platform in the UAE. In 2010, when Soham along with his co-founder conceived the concept to start Selfdrive, he had no idea that an offline, chauffer driven concept will take form into a disruptive digital platform. Fast forward today, Selfdrive now collaborates with more than 18 automobile brands having 65 different car models in total. In the coming few months, Selfdrive aim to add another 10 brands to its existing portfolio thereby acquiring about 90 percent of the brands within the market. At present, Selfdrive currently manages a fleet of over 3500 cars, accumulating to an asset value of USD 500 Million.

About Selfdrive

Selfdrive, is a Smart Mobility Super App, that allows users to rent a car on demand in a simple, safe and flexible way. The app is designed on a proprietary tech foundation concept known as search–select–pay, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to match users’ profiles with the cars they wish to drive.

Recently, Selfdrive launched launched ‘NEOS’ – the UAE’s 1^st New Car Every Year program giving customers flexibility to drive a brand-new car every year that would offer an alternative to car ownership and a hassle-free experience. In addition, the app offers doorstep delivery, service across all seven emirates, no early termination penalty, booked and pre-paid services, convenient and secure payment models, and more.

Key USP

As compared to other car rental services, Selfdrive is a Super App, which basically means that it is end-to-end integrated. Being the only largest platform to have direct tie ups with dealers and car manufacturers, Selfdrive helps customers source cars that are typically not available with other rental companies and also offers flexibility to subscribe from 1 day to 36 months.

In addition, its AI integration helps the company to profile customers based on their specific requirements. For example, if a customer is a registered user on its platform and have been driving a certain segment of a vehicle, say BMW – every time they return to the application, the look and feel of the application would typically change based on the client profile. This helps Selfdrive better understand that this client is within the luxury segment, so he/she doesn’t have to waste his/her time navigating through the entire app.

Recent achievements

Soham has expanded Selfdrive into the GCC, having established a presence in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The company has grown its presence in just a year’s time.

Future plans

In the coming months, Soham plans to add Selfdrive to new markets in the Middle East and is actively looking at other regions globally as business goes from strength to strength.

Interests

Outside work activities, Soham enjoys to travel, being on the racetrack and spending time with family.