2 Grab drivers, 2 career paths? 1 landed in HR and the other behind the wheel of an AV

When 43-year-old Yiyao Huang lost his corporate role in 2021, he felt as though he lost direction in life. To sustain his income, he tapped into one skill that he felt confident about: driving.

For four years, he worked as a full-time Grab driver-partner. Fast forward to today, Yiyao has now secured a new corporate role in human resource.

How did he go from driving for Grab to corporate? Upskilling through Grab's very own learning portal, GrabAcademy. Yiyao is among one of more than 23,000 driver- and delivery-partners who have completed upskilling courses offered by Grab, and among more than 5,200 partners who have benefitted from its career facilitation and matching services.

What and who is GrabAcademy for?

GrabAcademy is the super app's learning and development programme for its partners, which includes driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners. The portal, which launched in 2020, was created to help partners build relevant skills that will allow them to thrive in their careers within and even beyond Grab.

Partners can choose to upskill in a wide variety of courses, ranging from digital marketing, data analytics to business studies. GrabAcademy also frequently partners with leading Institutes of Higher Learning to provide these courses, such as with National University of Singapore (NUS) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

"While driving for Grab full-time, I always knew that I wanted to go back into the corporate world," said Yiyao, who was simultaneously applying for full-time jobs while he was driving with Grab but to no avail. That was until he found out about opportunities to upskill with GrabAcademy.

Given his experience with previously held corporate positions, Yiyao understood that data was a vital part of any business function and was keen to learn more. Thus, he enrolled in the NUS' SCTP Data Analytics Programme, a train-and-place programme that equips learners with technical skills to turn data into business insights.

"As part of the programme, we also had career facilitation courses," shared Yiyao, as he explained how he benefitted from the career preparatory workshops, which taught resume writing and interview skills. The facilitators at GrabAcademy encouraged him to apply for the management trainee role at a logistics firm, which he eventually landed.

"All the experiences that I had with Grab and GrabAcademy helped me to improve as a person overall. That's how I got this job in my current company."

Embracing future-proof technologies

Also among GrabAcademy's learners is a 55-year-old, who is set to be one of your Grab 'drivers' who doesn't drive.

Abdul Rashid is part of Grab's first batch of autonomous vehicle (AV) safety operators - one of more than 10 being trained so far, after being a driver-partner with Grab for the last nine years.

The super app is set to launch its AV service by early 2026 and in line with current regulatory requirements, the service will be manned by an AV safety operator on board.

"My job is to sit in front of the wheel. If everything goes well, I don't even have to touch it," said Rashid, who explained how the safety operator role would mostly involve close monitoring of the vehicles from inside the car.

"For now I am excited to be the AV Safety Operator with Grab. But if one day, AVs are allowed to drive without operators on board, I can still support through remote monitoring of the vehicles to ensure that they are working well," Rashid added.

Aside from safety operators and remote operators, Grab believes AVs are also poised to create new roles such as site coordinators, customer service support, system engineers, data analysts, cybersecurity specialists, and more.

All of Grab's AV safety operators, including Rashid, are undergoing training via GrabAcademy. Launched in 2020, GrabAcademy is the super app's learning and development programme for its partners, which includes driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners to equip them with skills to thrive in their careers within and beyond Grab.

The AV safety operator training involves equipping learners with technical skills as well as hands-on experience, requiring trainees to pass all modules and practical assessments before they can be qualified operators.

"In the event of any unforeseen circumstances, I am ready to support. There is also a special AV customer support team ready to help," said Rashid, who shared his excitement to be a part of the new service's launch.

This article is brought to you in partnership with Grab.

editor@asiaone.com