Bhavish Aggarwal, the co-founder and chairman of Ola Group, recently made an announcement that developers should consider moving on from using Google Maps and instead use Ola Maps on the AI-powered Krutrim platform. He offered one year of free access to Ola Maps along with over Rs 100 crore in free credits to all developers. Last week, Ola ditched Google Maps and started using Ola Maps for their taxi operations, which reportedly saved the company nearly Rs 100 crore annually. Aggarwal emphasized that Indian mapping needs are unique and Western apps like Google Maps do not adequately capture them, such as street names, urban changes, complex traffic, and non-standard roads. Ola Maps addresses these challenges by using India-specific algorithms powered by AI and real-time data from millions of vehicles. The company has made over 5 million edits to Open Street Maps in the last year alone to contribute to the open-source mapping community.
Ola Maps has been designed to provide the most accurate mapping data possible by utilizing a diverse dataset and sending near real-time updates. The company’s AI data systems use data from millions of vehicles, a fleet of Ola S1s with 360 cameras, open-source government data repositories, partnerships, and proprietary sources to create essential map features like roads, points of interest, street furniture, building geometry, and traffic signs. Aggarwal recently moved all of Ola’s workloads from Microsoft Azure to the in-house artificial intelligence platform Krutrim, showcasing his commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to improve Ola’s services.
The decision to switch from Google Maps to Ola Maps highlights the company’s focus on providing a more tailored and accurate mapping solution for India’s unique challenges. Ola is confident that their in-house mapping service outperforms competitors in terms of location accuracy, search accuracy, search latency, and estimated time of arrival accuracy. By offering free access to Ola Maps and investing in the platform, Ola aims to encourage developers to embrace their India-specific mapping solution and contribute to the advancement of technology in the country.
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