Alexey Zaharov - bachelor’s graduate of the “Applied Mathematics” program of the SUSU Faculty of mathematics, Mechanics, and Computer Sciences (Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics), and master’s graduate of “Fundamental Computer Sciences and Information Technology” of SUSU’s Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Information Science – is one of the developers of the software package which dispatches city taxis based on artificial intelligence, “Lyft”.
Today, the driver reservation service “Lyft.com” is one of the leaders of private transport in the USA. The annual turnover of this company is more than 1 billion dollars. The mobile service “Lyft” connects vehicle owners with pedestrians. The former wants to take on passengers, the latter wants to save money on taxis, and “Lyft” combines these needs. At the same time, both drivers and passengers have the ability to rate one another, and with time, users with poor reputation are deleted from the service.
Alexey Vladimirovch is one of the stockholders of “Lyft.com” and the leader of the application development group. The future of the company, in a large part, depends on his work. Alexey Zakharov emphasizes that “Lyft” is not marketing itself as a replacement for taxi services.
«This is not a professional transport company, but a society of people who are connected by the application and willing to help one another. It is possible for “Lyft” to become a universal transport service. The “Lyft” service is already operating in thirty North American countries, » points out the leader of the application development group, «but the company is not stopping, and will continue to fight for domination of the market.”
One of the most important steps forward in Alexey Zakharov’s programming career was winning in the youth academic innovation contest, “UMNIK”, a joint project between SUSU and the Fund for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises.
The “UMNIK” program has already existed at South Ural University for more than 10 years. By participating in this program, young researchers can receive 400,000 rubles for further study and development of their projects. By the words of Evgeny Iogolyevich, the deputy manager of the Board of Scientific and Innovative Activities and SUSU “UMNIK” program curator, receiving a grant from the “UMNIK” program was a jump-off point or a symbolic start for Aleksey’s career and gave him a good dose of self-confidence.
«Грант "У.М.Н.И.К" наряду с другими субсидиями от Министерства экономического развития позволил мне и моей команде полностью сфокусироваться на разработке данного проекта, не отвлекаясь на другие коммерческие проекты, которыми занималась моя консалтинговая компания», – отмечает Алексей.
“The “UMNIK” grant, alongside other subsidies from the Ministry of Economic Development allowed me and my team to fully focus on the development of this project without being distracted by other commercial projects which my consulting firm was engaged in,” notes Aleksey.
The “UMNIK” program grant which Aleksey received for his software package dispatching city taxis grew the project on a global scale.
You can read a more in-depth interview with Aleksey Zakharov in the journal “Technopolis” and on our site.
Russian text: Yulia Rudneva. Translation: Amanda Wegner.
Photos property of Aleksey Zakharov.