Ola hails on the streets of London

Indian ride-hailing app Ola has launched in London, where Uber faces the threat of being banned. Ola aims to rule the Silicon Valley giant as the market leader in the U.K. The firm’s app is similar in many ways to Uber’s but has a few safety-focused features which make it stand out.

For instance, when a passenger gets into a car, they have to give a unique four-digit code before the driver can start the trip. It also comes packed with an artificial intelligence-powered system called Guardian, which picks up on deviations in route patterns and gets Ola to check with the driver or customer if anything wrong is happening.

“We aspire to be the market leader in London, We believe that, with our proposition around quality and safety, offering a great experience not only for customers but drivers as well, there is no reason why we can’t be the market leader in this market.” Simon Smith, Ola’s head of international said. 

The firm has already registered over 25,000 drivers in London, just over half of Uber’s 45,000 in the city. It’s also partnered with the training unit of U.K. motoring association AA, education firm Pearson and consulting giant Mercer to test its drivers on risk assessment, English speaking and customer service.

Ola’s arrival in London comes as its key rival, Uber, fights for survival in the city. Local regulator Transport for London (TFL) decided not to renew Uber’s license to operate in November, citing a “pattern of failures” that put the safety of its passengers at risk. They say, drivers were able to game Uber’s system to pick up passengers without being authorized.  They were able to do this by uploading their photos to another driver’s account. This happened in at least 14,000 trips and some of the drivers were unlicensed.

Asked whether Ola’s system could be similarly exploited, Smith said he’s “confident there won’t be an issue,” but if there is, it’ll contact the regulators to “explain what’s happened and what our plan is to rectify it.” Its app also has an emergency tool that can be selected to alert Ola, a customer’s relatives and the emergency services.

To incentivize drivers to use its platform initially, Ola isn’t taking a commission off them for the first six weeks of its launch. Ola says it has a better shot at reaching profitability than its competitors, as it’s already reached positive earnings in its home market of India.

Source:-CNBC

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