Our Story

Who We Are & What We Stand For

Two CPUT graduates from Soweto and Port Elizabeth — frustrated by a broken system — built the alternative South Africa deserved.

"Modern urban mobility is entirely dependent on your smartphone, your data, and the grid. When any of those fail, you're stranded. We decided to fix that."

The Problem
Last-Mile Communication Gap
Urban mobility networks across South Africa fail the moment your personal device runs out of battery or data, or when the grid goes down. Millions left stranded, unable to access transportation.
The Insight
Infrastructure, Not Apps
Extract digital mobility software from personal smartphones and embed it directly into physical infrastructure. Deploy hardened, solar-powered kiosks at high-traffic nodes and let the system operate independently of the grid.
The Build
CPUT Founders
Dumisane Zikalala and Alulutho Mbangela met at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, both frustrated by the same problem. They chose to engineer the solution instead of accepting the status quo.
Today
Pilot Rollout 2026-2027
Aiming to launch our first 21 kiosks at major airports, university campuses, and transit hubs across South Africa. Each unit 100% solar-powered, every driver fully vetted, every journey tracked and protected.

Modern urban mobility networks share a critical vulnerability: they depend entirely on commuters possessing charged personal devices and access to a stable power grid. When those conditions fail, the entire system fails. People get stranded.

Dumisane Zikalala and Alulutho Mbangela, both CPUT graduates, saw this problem from different corners of South Africa. One from Soweto, one from Port Elizabeth. Both realized the solution wasn't to build a better app. It was to remove the need for an app altogether.

RideBox extracts digital mobility software from personal smartphones and embeds it directly into solar-powered physical infrastructure deployed at airports, universities, and shopping malls. The result: safe, accessible transportation that works regardless of load shedding, dead batteries, or data depletion.

Every design decision follows one principle: does this make safe, affordable, and dignified transport more accessible to more South Africans?

Mission
To deliver safe, accessible, and energy-independent e-hailing infrastructure that operates independently of personal devices or grid conditions.
Vision
A South Africa where safe, reliable, and affordable transportation is a right for everyone, powered entirely by renewable energy and available to anyone, anywhere.
01
Hardware Resilience
Build infrastructure that survives the real world. Vandal-proof. Weather-proof. Power-independent. Every component engineered for conditions on South African streets, not imported assumptions.
02
Safety by Default
Facial verification at booking. Pre-screened drivers. SOS panic buttons. Real-time tracking. Proactive AI sentiment analysis. No compromises. Every journey protected from both sides.
03
Radical Accessibility
All 11 official South African languages. Fixed, transparent pricing. No smartphone required. No data needed. No assumptions about user literacy. Mobility works for everyone.
04
Community First
Hire locally. Operate transparently. Pay drivers fairly and consistently. Reinvest profits back into the communities we serve. Our growth and their growth are inseparable.

Meet the team behind the platform.

View Team

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