Estonia, Innovations, Internet, Technology, Transport

The CEO of Taxify, Markus Villig, said that Kabanov joining their development team was expected to build new momentum on the development team.

"By the end of the year we wish to expand our global team whose numbers are nearing 600 people at present to almost one thousand people, with emphasis on software engineers and data scientists. Our team continues to be considerably smaller than those of global competitors, meaning that the difference a single person makes is correspondingly bigger," Villig said in a press release.

Kabanov meanwhile described Taxify as an extremely exciting company because of the technological challenges it offers on the one hand, and its extraordinary impact through being part of the day-to-day lives of tens of mlns of people on the other.

As the technologically most exciting challenges in his new job, Kabanov named the use of artificial intelligence in pricing and route modeling, and in forecasting demand and traffic conditions, complementing of the map application, improving the system for bringing together drivers and passengers in real-time, adapting the platform for serving tens and hundreds of mlns of users, and preparing for the pending advent of self-driving vehicles.

Kabanov holds a doctorate in informatics from the University of Tartu.

Founded in 2013, Taxify is an Estonian technology company that develops a global transport platform. The company by now has approximately 10 mln customers in more than 25 countries. In 2017, the company's revenue increased sixfold to 18 mln euros, while loss totaled 11 mln euros.