Ola will race Zoomcar in self-drive car rentals with a $500 million bet

• Ola is piloting its self-driving car rental service in India.
  
• Sources suggest that Ola will be pumping in $500 million into the segment.
  
• Earlier in March, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation made their biggest combined investment to date of $300 million into Ola.

Indian ride-hailing startup Ola is rapidly moving beyond its core service of being a cab aggregator. After making inroads into e-mobility, it is now launching a self-drive service.

Ola is set to start its self-drive service by pumping in $500 million, a source told Business Insider.

Confirming the news, an Ola spokesperson told Business Insider, “Basis market feedback, we are piloting our Ola Self-Drive offering in various formats like rentals, subscription and corporate leasing in select cities in the coming weeks. This space is currently underserved and there exists a tremendous opportunity to build a superior experience through an integrated mobility platform like Ola.”

The self-drive car rental service will put Ola in direct competition with Zoomcar and Drivezy, while pushing forward Ola’s existing fleet business. Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt Ltd also looks into asset optimization and management.

Ola is planning to take this launch to its top seven cities – Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata – with over 10,000 vehicles including luxury sedans and SUVs under the Ola Self-drive category. The company is taking this self-drive category to Ola’s 150 million+ consumers in the country will make it the largest self drive business in India, the source added.

By understanding consumer demand, Ola will look at introducing more car types into the self-drive category. They are also looking at growing the business through a subscription model for consumers and reaching out to corporates.

Earlier this month, Hyundai Motor Group and Ola announced a strategic partnership under which Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation made their biggest combined investment to date of $300 million. “As part of the strategic collaboration, the companies have agreed to co-create solutions to operate and manage fleet vehicles, marking the Group’s first foray into the industry, as they expand operations from automobile manufacturing and sales to total fleet solutions,” Ola had said in an official statement.

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