[TusharK]

Ola has launched a self-drive car-sharing service called Ola Drive. The service will initially be available in Bangalore and later will be offered in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, before expanding to other cities.



According to the company, Ola Drive will allow customers to design their own package by selecting the number of kilometers, hours and fuel inclusion. This is said to result in savings of up to 30% compared to other self-drive rental options.

Ola plans to have a fleet of 20,000 self-drive rental cars by 2020. The cars will come equipped with Ola Play connected car platform and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth connectivity and GPS.

Users will also have access to a 24/7 helpline, emergency button, real-time tracking and roadside assistance.

Link to Team-BHP News

[2000rpm]

Logical extension of the current business. I had heard that they were setting up captive service centers for their owned fleet, so this will add to economies of scale.

[Bh.P]

If I am right, their current cab model does not need them to own cars. It is driver partners who own the cars.
But with self drive model, they will have to own cars. And how the junta will treat those cars is a big question, after the vandalism we have seen with self drive scooters like bounce etc.

[Thilak29]

Originally Posted by Bh.P

If I am right, their current cab model does not need them to own cars. It is driver partners who own the cars.
But with self drive model, they will have to own cars. And how the junta will treat those cars is a big question, after the vandalism we have seen with self drive scooters like bounce etc.

Not necessarily, Zoom has ZAP where individuals can lend cars to the platform and it makes money by taking a cut out of revenue.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Zoom has ZAP where individuals can lend cars to the platform and it makes money by taking a cut out of revenue.

It appears you can lend your car only if you have subscribed the car through their ZAP subscribe.

[Hayek]

Logical extension. Though I doubt we will see too many real cars with real automatic transmissions - so suspect I will stick to hiring Innovas with drivers when I travel

[SideView]

Win-win situation for OLA, they can plan ahead and give the cars to drivers( taxi drivers) when it is not been self driven.

Hope they maintain the cars better. They only reason i haven’t gone the self driven taxi route is due to horror stories of poor condition of the vehicles and the exorbitant fee they charge incase something goes wrong and hassle that we need to follow up with them even if no fault of ours.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Not necessarily, Zoom has ZAP where individuals can lend cars to the platform and it makes money by taking a cut out of revenue.

Originally Posted by SideView

Win-win situation for OLA, they can plan ahead and give the cars to drivers( taxi drivers) when it is not been self driven.

What does the law say for the above two cases? Can a private registration (white-board) car be given for a commercial use? Similarly can a yellow-on-black board (self driven) be used as a normal taxi?

[tinshark]

Currently, the cost of renting cars is insane! Especially if you plan to drive within the city (and in a city like Bangalore). It is like why would I bother renting a car when a cab is so much more cheaper and I don't even have to drive in this traffic. Hopefully, with a new entrant the prices can go down.

I recently tried to rent from Zoom and Revv and maybe it is my bad luck but the experience was horrible. I have been meaning to make a post about it but just let it go.

In particular the experience with Revv's customer service was so bad that I was glad it was all over before I could even drive the car. I don't think they would have helped one bit if something bad had happened during the trip.

[GTO]

I find Ola Cabs to run like a well-oiled machine. If they are committed to Ola Drive, I don't see why it should be any different. And, at least at the start, their cars will be better as they'll be brand new .

Can someone from Bangalore share their rates & offerings?

Originally Posted by tinshark

Currently, the cost of renting cars is insane! Especially if you plan to drive within the city (and in a city like Bangalore). It is like why would I bother renting a car when a cab is so much more cheaper and I don't even have to drive in this traffic.

True. Uber & Ola have made self-drive rentals pointless for city use. I only rent self-drive cars when I'm on a multi-day trip to areas not served well. Example, the last was a Scorpio in Vizag & an i20 for a highway trip from Ahmedabad.

[bejoy]

Good move from Ola!

Originally Posted by GTO

Can someone from Bangalore share their rates & offerings?

More choice now, in addition to Revv, Drivezy, Zoom, etc. They all do home delivery of cars whereas Ola has only pick up points currently, mostly in Malls.

Here are the options available near to my area. I chose a 4 hour 40km option for Renault Captur.


Available cars (20km, 2Hrs)



FAQ:




https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le29729013.ece

Ola launches self-drive service in Bengaluru
It will allow customers to rent a car for anywhere between two hours and three months
The app-based cab aggregator Ola has launched a self-driving service that will allow customers to rent a car for anywhere between two hours and three months. The service, Ola-Drive, claims to offer people the chance to customise their package by choosing the number hours, kilometres and fuel.

At the moment, the service — with a fleet of 500 cars — is limited to Bengaluru, with plans for expansion to Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad. Ola aims to increase its fleet to 20,000 cards by 2020 and has plans to invest about $200 million into Ola-Drive.

At a press conference on Thursday, Arun Srinivas, chief sales and marketing officer of Ola, said, “In the first phase of its rollout, Ola-Drive will be offered as a short-term self-drive car-sharing service, as we look to introduce long-term subscription, corporate leasing and more options in the times to come.”

The standard distance option ranges from 8 km to 60 km, with a charge of ₹8 for every additional km. All cars will have an in-built navigation system. A 24x7 helpline will also be available for roadside assistance in the event of car breakdown. For customer safety, Ola has an in-app emergency button and live tracking option.

At present, there are five stations from where the cars can be picked up — at parking levels of Garuda Mall, Ashok Nagar; Forum Mall, Koramangala; Vega City Mall, Bannerghatta; Ola Drive Zone; and Golf View Campus (IBC), Murugeshpalya.

The user is given the option of choosing among four models of cars. He can also select the distance and time he wishes to use the car for. Any change in actual time or distance travelled will be adjusted at the time of bill calculation. The user can pick up and drop the car at any of the five designated stations.

FAQ Contd:


Request mods to merge this post with above. Thanks.

[srishiva]

Hope to see better cars. This explains why last weekend, saw so many Ola cars parked in the Vega City Mall parking lot. Didn't know what they were doing there. They had normal Ola printed over the cars.