New Delhi. Online taxi company Ola will no longer take the help of Google Maps for navigation. The company has announced to shift to its own developed map platform Ola Maps. The company has said that with this, Rs 100 crore can be saved annually in the expense of map service.
In a statement, Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said that after exiting Azure last month, we have now completely exited Google Maps as well. We used to spend Rs 100 crore annually on this, but this month we have reduced this expense to zero thanks to our in-house Ola Maps. Bhavish Aggarwal has advised app users to update their Ola App.
AI based map will help
The announcement comes three months after Ola Group of Companies transferred its entire system to in-house artificial intelligence (AI) firm Krutrim after its tieup with Microsoft Azure ended.
On May 11, Agarwal wrote on X that the firm was ending its relationship with Microsoft Azure. He had said that within a week the firm’s AI artificial intelligence will be fully capable of meeting the needs of maps and navigation. When launching Krutrim AI, the firm had said that there would also be mapping solutions within cloud services.
Apart from AI, Ola Maps is also able to provide location intelligence services to developers, including mapping and location-based services. In October 2021, Ola had acquired Geospoke, a Pune-based provider of geospatial services. Ola Maps currently caters to the mapping needs of the company’s flagship ride-hailing app.
The company had also announced plans to roll out Ola Maps for its electric two-wheelers as part of a software update in January.
Tags: auto news, google maps
FIRST PUBLISHED: July 6, 2024, 12:13 IST
