Traveler communications platform Grapevine and ground transportation platform Jyrney have partnered to offer conversational AI booking for taxis, ride-hails and chauffeured cars, the companies announced.
With the collaboration, travelers can book ground transportation from Jyrney's provider network via Grapevine's conversational AI assistant, Sophie, communicating by voice or text through WhatsApp, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Sophie can interpret the conversation and use booking flows to handle the transactions, according to the companies.
"The booking process contains a lot of variables: clarifications on pickup and dropoff locations, quotes, bookings, amendments and cancellations," Grapevine founder and CEO Jack Dow said in a statement. "These changes tend to confuse public [Large Language Models], so we've focused heavily on building an agentic solution that blends probabilistic conversation with deterministic booking flows."
Besides running as a standalone product, Sophie also can connect with Grapevine's traveler messaging platform. With that, Sophie can use travel management company booking data to message recommendations to travelers on ground transportation options for their travel between airport and hotel, with bookings staying within the managed travel program. The AI also can track flights and notify drivers when travelers have landed, the companies said.
Jyrney, meanwhile, can monitor bookings, reallocating them in case of late dispatches or resolving other problems with the bookings, according to the companies.
Grapevine said the booking capabilities with Jyrney is part of a larger goal of "24/7 total trip support through conversational AI." The company said it soon will be rolling out capabilities related to airport parking and travel visas.