Grab, a leading super-app in Southeast Asia, has embraced generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and agentic AI to offer new features as a growth strategy.
The new features are expected to bring in new users and promote cross-sales among existing users, according to the company.
Grab projects revenue this year to grow by 19-22% year-on-year to US$3.33-3.40 billion.
In 2024, Grab recorded gross merchandise value (GMV) of $10.4 billion in the regional food delivery market, which was valued at $129 billon. In Thailand, the firm held a 46% share of the market's GMV last year worth $4.2 billion.
"Grab embraces the latest technologies for large language models [LLM] and agentic AI to address real problems and serve the real needs of users, with our philosophy of 'AI-First with Heart' that puts AI at the core of how we work and what we build, without ever losing sight of who we're building for," group chief executive Anthony Tan told attendees at a GrabX event held yesterday in Singapore, showcasing the company's latest product innovations.
AI is a game changer for its partners, customers and drivers, helping Grab to scale 10 times with the same resources, he said.
"As Southeast Asians shift more to digital solutions for daily needs, we want to expand Grab's relevance to their everyday lives. Our new suite of products is designed to achieve that, fostering growth and strengthening our connection with the communities we serve," said Mr Tan.
Among the offerings Grab showcased at the event was its new "Grab for Family | Teens" feature to promote a safe and reliable way for teenagers aged 13 to 17 to travel independently. It will be available across its markets in May.
With their teens account linked to existing Grab for Family accounts, teenagers will be able to book rides independently or have rides booked by their parents.
The solution is designed with extra safety features built in to protect them, such as an "Always-on AudioProtect" feature, which will soon be able to utilise GenAI to detect in real-time if there is anything dangerous happening in a car, so Grab can intervene immediately.
"We use LLM to analyse real-time audio and sentiments such as a cry for help, with the help of AI to bring innovation to respond to individual voices, and we can intervene immediately, not just provide safety by tracking the car's licence number," said Mr Tan.
Philipp Kandal, chief of product at Grab, said the theme of these product launches is widening opportunities to use Grab services throughout the day.
Products and technologies represent growth strategies to enable clients to use Grab's services and also acquire new users in the company's ecosystem, said Mr Kandal.
The Grab for Family | Teens feature should help the company tap teenagers, he said.
Grab also showcased "GrabFood for One", which is now live and available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The service makes food delivery more accessible for solo diners by offering affordable meals with no minimum spend, at a low, fixed delivery fee.
Mr Kandal added that Grab also uses agentic AI solutions to help merchant and driver partners. The AI Merchant Assistant and AI Driver Companion were developed with AI research organisations OpenAI and Anthropic, drawing on their latest foundational models.
The AI Merchant Assistant is a chatbot powered by LLM integrated within the GrabMerchant app to provide merchants with tailored insights and help them with business suggestions, such as how to improve sales, create ad campaigns and update menus.
Soon, it will also suggest financing solutions tailored to individual merchants, including loan products.
The AI Driver Companion features two new AI-powered solutions integrated within the Grab Driver app to help drivers be more efficient and productive.
