Ola announced a big decision by ditching Google Maps and Microsoft Azure altogether. Instead, Ola is offering in-house tech solutions, such as introducing its own Ola Maps.
On Friday, Ola co-founder and CEO Pavish Aggarwal said, “We used to spend up to Rs 100 crore annually on this, but we are now offering in-house tech solutions.”
The launch comes months after the company moved from Microsoft Azure to an in-house cloud infrastructure to power the ecosystem and run the company’s large language model (LLM) Crutrim.
After Azure exit last month, we’ve now fully exited google maps. We used to spend ₹100 cr a year but we’ve made that 0 this month by moving completely to our in house Ola maps! Check your Ola app and update if needed 😉
Also, Ola maps API available on @Krutrim cloud! Many more… pic.twitter.com/wYj1Q1YohO
— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) July 5, 2024
Aggarwal said that various features will be introduced in Ola Maps in the coming days. Street view, Neural Radiance Fields (NERFs), interior images, 3D maps, drone maps and many other features will be there, he said.
While the Google Maps app is free for consumers to use, businesses like Ola that connect to the Application Programming Interface (API) used by Google Maps must pay to use it. That means you have to pay more for it. Ola has taken this step.
