Uber’s Rival in India, Ola Launches In-Car Entertainment Platform

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Ola cab is India’s largest ride-hailing service. Ola cab does an average 750,000 rides a day with the target to hit 1 million cabs by the end of the year. The startup has operations in 100 cities in India with plans to double the number to 200 by year end.  In a bid to effectively compete with San-Francisco based Uber, Ola previously raised $500 Million in funding to allow it roll-out new services. Uber has $1 Billion war chest for the Indian market.  Ola received its funding from among others Uber’s main competitor in China Didi Kuaidi, now referred as Didi Chuxing.

In its quest to dominate the market and wade off Uber, Ola has been quickly innovating around its offerings. In 2015, the service launched a carpooling service that allows users to create or join a group of colleagues or friends and choose the Share option when booking a ride. One is then automatically be matched with others and they get to split the fare. The service is available to a maximum of three drivers per ride.

In the same light, Ola has launched a service called Ola Play, which offers both the passenger in-car entertainment during their ride according to Tech Crunch. Then service will offer users  entertainment options, trip-based features, and an internet browser. The service will also sync with other services such as Apple Music and Fynd. The service will also be extended to drivers  who will have access to features such as Audio compass. Tech Crunch says that Ola partnered with among others Qualcomm, Apple Music and Indian car manufacturer Mahindra for the same.

The offering will initially be available to the high-end users of Ola cabs before extending to all 50,000 ola cabs by March 2017.

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