[TusharK]

Ola Electric is rumoured to be developing its own navigation service for electric vehicles.



The report states that Ola's new navigation system is still in its early stages of development. It might debut on the S1 and S1 Pro later this year. It is also said that having an in-house map service would enable the company to quickly update its charging network, service centres and other information.

At present, Ola offers navigation based on MapMyIndia on the S1 Pro e-scooter. The map service has been integrated into the MoveOS 2 operating system. It is expected to be released next month, once the beta testing phase is completed.

Source: Onsitego

Link to Team-BHP News

[shyampsunder]

Instead of simply integrating with Google Maps or continuing with MapMyIndia, Ola investing their bandwidth in this area sounds like madness.

It's not like there aren't any other 'burning' issues that they need to focus on.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

It's not like there aren't any other 'burning' issues that they need to focus on.

That's precisely why they need to publish positive-sounding news like this, to remove focus from the negative buzz around deliveries and vehicle issues.

A tactic long used by companies (and governments) all over.

And to be fair- the two need not be inter-related. One team can work on the navigation feature, while the other teams work on resolving existing issues.

[amvj]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

Instead of simply integrating with Google Maps or continuing with MapMyIndia, Ola investing their bandwidth in this area sounds like madness.

It's not like there aren't any other 'burning' issues that they need to focus on.

I am not defending Ola here, but I am sure using Google maps involves paying royalty / fees to Google and maybe that is why they want to use their own.

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by amvj

I am not defending Ola here, but I am sure using Google maps involves paying royalty / fees to Google and maybe that is why they want to use their own.

Yes using any service will cost you money. Nobody can run services like navigation for free.

The question is where do you concentrate on the limited bandwidth that startups have? Focusing on your core competencies or trying to do everything in-house? Keep in mind the cost of hiring a competent tech team.

[ritesh_44]

Originally Posted by amvj

I am not defending Ola here, but I am sure using Google maps involves paying royalty / fees to Google and maybe that is why they want to use their own.

Running your own map service using open source maps will also cost some money, but at cost of worse experience. Live traffic will not be as accurate as Google's

[Livnletcarsliv]

What next Ola? Develop and manufacture your own bulbs, tyres, paint, brake pads, brake rotors, seat covers, floor mats, etc?

The need of the hour and focus should be the quality and reliability of the product and not reinventing the wheel (developing the maps). If a company like Apple can fail in developing their own maps, what is Ola. Bhavish, common we are matured and knowledgable enough to understand your cheap ideas/tricks. Better luck next time.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by amvj

I am not defending Ola here, but I am sure using Google maps involves paying royalty / fees to Google and maybe that is why they want to use their own.

Also remember Ola's real business is cabs. Period. If they indeed do develop their own maps, Ola could save hundreds of crores in payments to Google. Old articles show Uber paid Google Maps $58 million for 2016 - 2018. The numbers would be way higher today due to more rides + higher pricing from Google.

Ola has enough taxis on the road to reasonably predict traffic patterns. Soon, it will have a lot of 2-wheelers too. And it's not just about saving on licence fees, it's also about sharing data & power with Google. If personal users like me & you are petrified of the data we share with Google in our gmail & browser usage, imagine the worries Ola would have.

Agarwal is ambitious. Don't write off his plans just yet. For all the criticism (fires, niggles etc.) around the S1 scooter, it is phenomenal what he has achieved in Year 1 of scooter production, with absolutely ZERO experience in building vehicles. Heck, till last year, they were just a taxi company. And within the taxi space, Ola beat Uber fair & square. One of the few times Uber had to eat humble pie (the others being in China, Malaysia etc.).

[karthikg87]

Originally Posted by GTO

Also remember Ola's real business is cabs. Period. If they indeed do develop their own maps, Ola could save hundreds of crores in payments to Google. Old articles show Uber paid Google Maps $58 million for 2016 - 2018. The numbers would be way higher today due to more rides + higher pricing from Google.

Most startups with deliveries and drivers have teams dedicated to maps. I worked in engineering of a food delivery company and they had one too. However building a product that can compete with Google Maps is an excruciatingly hard task. Just ask Apple. These teams work in a supplemental capacity to Google Maps over competing against it.

[purohitanuj]

What a waste of time and money. Instead, Ola should have collaborated with any crowd-sourced POI apps like PlugShare to integrate their data. This was already seen as a huge problem as I was trying to plan a drive from Delhi to Manali in an EV, as if, I had so.
I had to install following apps:

• PlugShare
• TataPowerEZ
• Statiq
• ChargeZone

PlugShare overlaps all data sources but still it is not guaranteed to be updated; thus had to install other apps to see various charging points with there timings, charging capabilities etc.

While doing so, I was again motivated to steer away from EVs and rejoice the joy of owning a Diesel.
Off Topic:
I see many video logs where people are hell bent on proving long distances drives in EV. In all of these videos, the EVs comes out 3-4 cheaper than the Diesel counterparts, but when you factor in the cost of Hotel stay to charge EV overnight (and due to its limited range), the EV suddenly becomes way more costly than the ICE.

For example, I have done Delhi - Manali or Delhi - Srinagar in one stretch (without hotel stays) in my Scorpio easily. However, when I plan any such route in an EV, I am forced to either stay in Hotel for overnight charging, or to have forced 3-4 hours charging breaks leading to very odd arriving times (and the break in flow demotivates further driving and again forces me to look at hotel stay for overnight).

[5252rpm]

What ever business they are into - Ola Cabs, Cars, Fleet, Dash, Food, Electric etc. developing own maps will be helpful. It could be a cash burning exercise here but will workout in long term for Ola and its future business plans. They can deploy new revenue streams as well.

[adi58]

None of their business idea sustained and this is yet another greedy trick to increase their valuation for the next round of investors. Not too far when the entire Ola chain is acquired.

[W16rocks]

I would say, this is a good business decision as this same maps service can be used by Ola cabs saving Ola hundreds of crores. But on the other hand this service has to be precise and trouble free, as if it is as troublesome as the first batch of scooters this could lead to even worst taxi experience in Ola cabs.

If this service is reliable and cheaper in comparison to google maps then more startup’s and companies like Swiggy, ZOMATO which require maps will adapt it as it will be cheaper to use thus bringing more money to Ola.

[deep_bang]

Does Ola still run on mapMyIndia? How do they get traffic data? I thought mapMyIndia was mostly static maps only.

[hrman]

In my honest view, what Ola is doing is not so bad. They do pay huge royatty fees to Google for using the Maps API on their taxi app and scooters. This investment should have some longer term dividends.
Having said that, I am still sceptical about data privacy. I know as a google maps user, my live location and whereabouts are open to many providers. But the case of one guy whose Ola scooter crashed over a speed breaker and he filed a case against Ola for sudden acceleration. Ola countered that guy's claim of going at very low speed by publishing real time speed data of that scooter at the time of the reported accident. If its Ola's own maps, this tendency of Ola worries me a bit.

But the disruption Ola has done to make E-2Ws mass market at a time when Hero or Ather or any of the big IC players couldn't create much impact is laud worthy. Reminds me of how Reliance Infocomm commoditised Mobile phones 20 years back or how Jio did the same for mobile data and high speed broadband and drove prices down and promoted mass adoption.