Ola to invest USD 500 mn in self-drive service

Ola Fleet Technologies, an arm of cab-hailing major Ola, will get about USD 500 million funding over the next two years as it looks to launch self-drive service, according to sources.

According to the sources, Ola Fleet Technologies will get about USD 500 million through a mix of equity and debt to offer self-drive services in the country.

This service, which is in a small-scale pilot in Bengaluru currently, is expected to be launched over the next few weeks.

The launch of self-drive service will pit Ola against the likes of Sequoia Capital-backed Zoomcar and Y Combinator-backed Drivezy.

They added that the Bengaluru-based company could deploy about 10,000 vehicles for the self-drive service.

When contacted, an Ola spokesperson said that "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 under-served and there exists a tremendous opportunity to build a superior experience through an integrated mobility platform like Ola," the spokesperson added.

According to one of the sources, Ola is looking at building a subscription model for consumers and later extending leasing services for corporate clients through the new service.

This will also help the company further strengthen its portfolio of transportation solutions.

Ola, which competes with US-based Uber in India and international markets like Australia, has been aggressively ramping up its rides business as well as food delivery operations (through Foodpanda).

It had recently announced that Hyundai and Kia are investing USD 300 million in the company. Ola, which counts names like SoftBank Group and China's Tencent Holdings among its investors, had received Rs 650 crore funding from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal in February this year.

Also, Ola's electric mobility arm Ola Electric Mobility has raised Rs 400 crore from Tiger Global and Matrix India and others.