Bhavish Aggarwal, the co-founder and chairman of Ola Group, recently announced that developers should move away from relying on Google Maps and instead use Ola Maps on the AI-powered Krutrim platform. To encourage this transition, Ola is offering one year of free access to Ola Maps along with over Rs 100 crore in free credits for developers. This decision came after Ola switched from Google Maps to Ola Maps for their taxi operations, resulting in substantial annual savings for the company.
Aggarwal emphasized that Western mapping apps do not effectively capture the unique challenges of mapping in India, such as street names, urban changes, complex traffic, and non-standard roads. Ola Maps, on the other hand, is specifically designed to address these challenges using India-specific algorithms powered by AI and real-time data from millions of vehicles. The platform also actively contributes to and leverages open source data, with over 5 million edits made to Open Street Maps last year alone.
According to Aggarwal, Ola Maps outperforms competitors in terms of location accuracy, search accuracy, search latency, and estimated time of arrival accuracy. The platform uses a diverse data set, including real-time data from millions of vehicles, a fleet of Ola S1s equipped with 360 cameras, open source government data repositories, partnerships, and proprietary sources to ensure the most accurate mapping data possible.
In a blog post, Ola explained that their AI data systems continuously update mapping data to provide near real-time updates. By incorporating various data sources and leveraging AI technology, Ola Maps can accurately map essential features such as roads, points of interest, street furniture, building geometry, and traffic signs. This comprehensive approach sets Ola Maps apart from other mapping services and ensures the accuracy of the mapping data.
In addition to the transition to Ola Maps, Aggarwal recently decided to move all of Ola Group’s workload from Microsoft Azure to the in-house artificial intelligence platform Krutrim. This strategic decision reflects Ola’s commitment to leveraging proprietary AI technology to enhance their services and operations.
Overall, Ola’s shift to Ola Maps on the Krutrim platform highlights the company’s dedication to innovation and providing a superior mapping experience for developers and users in India. Through leveraging AI technology and a diverse data set, Ola Maps aims to address the unique challenges of mapping in India and provide accurate, real-time mapping data for its users.
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