Ola has fully transitioned from using Microsoft Azure last month to now exiting Google Maps, opting for its proprietary Ola Maps, as announced by founder-CEO Bhavish Aggarwal in a post on X.
Aggarwal mentioned that the company used to spend ₹100 crore annually on Google Maps, which has now been reduced to zero with the shift to Ola Maps.
He highlighted upcoming enhancements for Ola Cabs, including street view, neural radiance fields (NERFs), indoor images, 3D maps, and drone maps, among other features.
In October 2021, Ola acquired GeoSpoc, a Pune-based company specializing in geospatial services.
Ola Maps now fulfills the mapping needs of its primary ride-hailing application.
Ola Cabs’ Mapping and Technological Innovations
Furthermore, the company announced plans to integrate Ola Maps into its electric two-wheelers through a software update in January.
In May, Aggarwal announced the company’s decision to migrate its entire workload from Microsoft Azure to its own cloud platform, Krutrim.
This move was in response to Microsoft-owned LinkedIn removing Aggarwal’s post criticizing gender pronoun policies, resulting in a significant financial impact on Microsoft in India.
Strategic Moves and Partnerships
Aggarwal also extended an invitation to other developers, offering a full year of free cloud usage if they migrate away from Azure, with the condition that they do not return to Azure afterward.
Later, Aggarwal emphasized the need for India to develop its own comprehensive technology stack, including AI models, cloud infrastructure, data centers, and chips.
He stressed that achieving data sovereignty requires both the location and control of data to reside within India, not merely the physical infrastructure.
Aggarwal emphasized the importance of India building its own technology stack to lead the AI revolution and reduce dependency on large tech companies.
Currently, India generates 20% of global data, yet only 3% of it is stored domestically.
Aggarwal underscored that without a complete indigenous technology stack, India cannot fully harness its economic potential and cultural strengths.
In 2017, Ola partnered with Microsoft Azure to develop a connected vehicle platform for global car manufacturers, with Azure providing cloud services to Ola.
In FY23, Microsoft’s revenue from its India operations increased by 39% year-on-year to ₹19,230 crore.
Krutrim, a domestically developed generative AI platform launched by Aggarwal last year, recently introduced AI cloud services called Krutrim Cloud.
These services aim to assist developers and enterprises in accessing advanced GPU resources to accelerate projects and enhance productivity.
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