Ola Maps: Bhavish Aggarwal Steers Indian Developers Away from Google Maps

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has urged Indian developers to switch from Google Maps to Ola Maps, offering a year of free access. He highlighted the superior performance of Ola's in-house tool, which tackles India's unique navigation challenges using AI and real-time data, leading to significant cost savings.

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has called on Indian developers to abandon Google Maps in favor of Ola's own mapping service, offering a year of free access as an incentive. Aggarwal emphasized that the in-house Ola Maps outperforms other navigation tools on key metrics, addressing India's unique challenges with AI-focused algorithms and real-time data.

This appeal came shortly after Aggarwal announced Ola's complete transition from Google Maps to their proprietary navigation system for its cab operations, highlighting India's digital sovereignty. He noted that foreign technology often falls short in recognizing India's street names, urban changes, and complex traffic patterns.

Aggarwal also shared a blog exploring the capabilities of Ola Maps. He cited that the company has drastically cut its yearly tech expenses by eliminating Microsoft's Azure cloud services and fully integrating Krutrim AI this May, and more recently, by ditching Google Maps for its in-house mapping tool.

(With inputs from agencies.)