Right now, Ola might just be a cab-aggregator in India, but the company is planning to change that soon.
Powered by a fresh round of funding, Ola has partnered with Microsoft to take forward its connected car platform, Ola Play, as a standalone platform such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Together with Ola, we’re focused on providing more intelligent, connected and productive experiences to our customers.Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
So, what does Nadella and Ola mean by working on a connected car platform? Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Cabs co-founder, stated that Ola Play customers will get access to Microsoft products like Office 365, Skype for Business and other in-car centric voice-assisted features.
Both companies joining hands to take Ola Play to car manufacturers globally to integrate with vehicle systems, moving beyond its fleet of Ola cabs.Microsoft India
In future, Ola Pay could offer basic help like notifying you about time to get your car fix, setting car temperature to your choice and even allow Ola drivers pick up rides via voice commands.
While the bigger motive behind the collaboration seems to make Ola Play available to other car manufactures, neither company has spoken about the timeframe of this goal.
In addition to the connected car set-up, Ola is also pushing for electric cars, offering them to those who like to travel without polluting the environment. All this innovation puts Ola in a good position, but it’ll be intriguing to see if consumers would prefer Ola Play over Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.
It feels like Microsoft wants to use Ola Play as a launchpad to pit itself against Android and Apple, but will that strategy work, let’s wait and see it pan out.
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