Mobility major Ola has acquired a Pune-based geospatial start-up, GeoSpoc, to develop technologies that make mobility universally accessible, sustainable, personalised, and convenient across shared and personal vehicles.

As part of this acquisition, GeoSpoc's founder Dhruva Rajan and his geospatial scientists and engineers will join Ola. Elaborating on the significance of a solution like GeoSpo, Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in a blog, "New vehicle form factors and modes of transport will transform our day to day lives. These fundamental changes will require investments in next-gen technologies, including location and geospatial technologies, and advancements in satellite imagery conversion into real-time maps as well as 3D, HD and vector maps."

He added that as shared and personal mobility penetrates deeper to cover 50 to 100 per cent of India’s population in the coming years, Maps will need to improve in various ways. These ways include accurate and rich maps with high user context that should be available to the population beyond the first 100 million users. Multi-modal transportation options will need geospatial intelligence to understand the unique benefits of each option and provide suggestions accordingly.

Three-dimensional view

Further, maps will need to consider a three-dimensional view of the world as aerial mobility models such as drones become more mainstream. Incorporating near real time satellite imagery to provide a better understanding of road quality and improvements such as avoiding poorly lit streets at night for safety – even if it is a faster route. Also, autonomous driving will need HD and 3D maps to offer superior visualisation and dynamic real-time updates based on road, traffic and weather conditions.

"We have the data and the expertise to build this utilising our deep understanding of consumer movements as well as our massive network of 2,3 and 4Ws that provide unprecedented geo-spatial details. We can layer this data with new sources such as satellite imagery and visual feeds from our network on-ground to build ‘Living Maps’ that embody the changing landscape of our world," Aggarwal added.

Ola Cabs has crossed pre-covid GMV levels earlier this month and the recovery from the second covid wave is three times faster than the first wave. Further, 10 million people are reported to have used Ola for the first time in FY2021. The company claims to be onboarding more driver-partners and expanding into new cities and products.

Ola claims to provide multi-modal mobility access to 100 million people through Taxis, auto rickshaws, 2Ws, day hires, outstation rides etc. In a recent company blog, Aggarwal has shared the company’s vision for the future termed as New Mobility. He noted three pillars of this new ecosystem: new mobility services, new energy vehicles and new auto retail.

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