Ola exits Google Maps, moves to in-house Ola Maps

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) India’s major ride-hailing company Ola has exited Google Maps and has shifted to its own Ola Maps for cab operations. Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and Chairman of the Ola group said that through this move, the company will save nearly Rs 100 crore per year. Last month Aggarwal cut all his ties with Microsoft Azure and shifted his company’s entire workload to in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm Krutrim. 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 many more new features like street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, etc 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 Pune-based geospatial services provider company GeoSpoc. Currently, Ola Maps provides services to its flagship ride-hailing app Ola cabs. At the time of the Krutrim AI launch, Ola announced that it would provide a mapping solution within its Cloud services. Recently, Aggarwal said that “early next year is when you can see our own cells in our own products.” Ola is building a battery cell gigafactory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri District. —