FREENOW Secures Ride-Hailing Service in Poland with Regula Document and Biometric Verification

As a Mobility Super App, FREENOW offers European consumers the largest selection of vehicles in the region, including taxis, carsharing, e-scooters, e-bikes, e-mopeds, and public transport. With around 1,000 employees and 26 offices, the company provides services in more than 150 cities in 9 markets across Europe. The Polish branch of FREENOW operates in 25 offices.

Challenge

Recently, the taxi service in Poland has gone through a transformation due to changes in legislation. The taxi service providers were obliged to perform more robust identity and document verification of all their driver employees.

To meet these legislative requirements, FREENOW initiated market research to choose the best solution for comprehensive identity verification of their partner taxi drivers. The company aspired to establish a reliable and secure process. And it had to be done rapidly to stay in line with the tight timeframe set by the new law.

Solution

With the help of Korporacja Wschód, a major system integrator and distributor in Poland, FREENOW opted for a set of Regula software solutions, Regula Document Reader SDK and Regula Face SDK, which met their requirements both in technology and price. Implementing the Regula solutions allowed FREENOW to build a robust identity verification system to properly check both identity documents and biometrics, as well as the criminal record of their employees.

Driver verification is done in person at one of the 25 FREENOW offices across the country. The process is as follows:

• First, a taxi driver provides their ID card or passport and driver’s license for verification. At this step, Regula Document Reader SDK automatically recognizes the type of the document; reads the data in all the document fields, including visual and machine-readable zones (MRZ), barcodes, and NFC chips; checks the authenticity of the personal data and the document itself; and cross-compares all the information to check for possible inconsistencies that may indicate fraud.
• After this, the taxi driver goes through biometric verification with the help of Regula Face SDK. The face-matching technology incorporated into the Regula solution verifies the identity of the driver and compares a real face image taken on site with the portraits in the documents to ensure the person is the same.
• After this, FREENOW checks the driver’s criminal record.
• Optionally, depending on the city, taxi IDs are also verified.
• Finally, if no concerns arise, the taxi driver is registered in the FREENOW system.

Result

The new identity verification (IDV) system based on Regula Document Reader SDK and Regula Face SDK will help FREENOW check the identity documents and biometrics of several thousands of their partner taxi driver employees in Poland.

Our cooperation with Regula and Korporacja Wschod enabled FREENOW to timely adapt to new legislative requirements across the whole of Poland. Thanks to mutual engagement and dedication from both Regula and FREENOW, we succeeded in building a tailored solution meeting the very specific needs of the taxi industry.

—Oliwier Migasiewicz, Head of Operations in Poland at FREENOW

It is also important to note that the whole project of deploying the IDV system was done in just six months, so the company succeeded in meeting the timeframe requirements as per the law. Such a fast project completion was possible thanks to a holistic approach to technology implementation and ongoing support from both Regula and Korporacja Wschód.

I am immensely proud of the synergistic collaboration that has flourished between our team, Regula, and FREENOW. Our journey started with a shared vision—to revolutionize identity verification and enhance security in the ride-hailing industry. This project stands as a testament to our commitment at Korporacja Wschód to delivering innovative and bespoke solutions. Working hand-in-hand with Regula, a leader in document and facial recognition technology, we've seamlessly merged our expertise to meet the specific needs of FREENOW and create a state-of-the-art identity verification system that is robust, user-friendly, and reliable.

—Aleksander Bokszczanin, Chief Operating Officer at Korporacja Wschód