India's major ride-hailing company Ola has stopped using Google Maps and has switched to its own Ola Maps for managing their cab operations. Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and Chairman of the Ola group, mentioned that this change will result in the company saving nearly Rs 100 crore per year.
In a social media post, he asked users to check Ola apps and update if required.
Aggarwal said on X, "After Azure exit last month, we’ve now fully exited Google Maps. We used to spend ₹100 cr a year but we’ve made that 0 this month by moving completely to our in-house Ola maps! Check your Ola app and update if needed."
Aggarwal announced that many new features such as street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, and drone maps will be integrated into Ola maps soon.
"Many more features coming soon - street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, etc!" Aggarwal said in a social media post.
In October 2021, Ola acquired GeoSpoc, a Pune-based geospatial services provider. Ola Maps now offers services for its primary ride-hailing app, Ola cabs.
Last month, Aggarwal terminated all his ties with Microsoft Azure and moved his company's entire workload to the in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm Krutrim.
At the time of the launch of Krutrim AI, Ola announced that it would provide a mapping solution within its cloud services. Recently, Aggarwal stated, "Early next year is when you can see our own cells in our own products." Ola is constructing a battery cell gigafactory in the Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, according to a recent report, the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India's two-wheeler sector has significantly increased over the past two months, despite the incentives being nearly halved in April. This shift has resulted in notable market changes: Ola Electric's market share has decreased, while TVS Motor Co Ltd (TVSL) has seen an increase.
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Inputs from IANS
