JOIN USIndia’s largest ride-hailing startup Ola on Tuesday announced the launch of Ola Play, a connected car play platform to give an immersive in-car entertainment for users with hardware and software support.
Ola CEO and co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said that Ola Play is the world’s first connected in-car experience platform, which enables interfacing with the consumer’s device once a ride begins.
“I believe this will completely transform the consumer’s ride experience, giving the user the power to control the interactions within the car, and usher in a new era in the ridesharing industry. Customers can experience Ola Play from their own devices or from the large screen devices mounted in the car, along with the car’s sound systems,” he said.
Besides its proprietary in-car and cloud technologies, through Ola Play, Ola brings on board advance car control, personalised content and a fully-connected interactive experience for the user.
“With over 60 million minutes spent in Ola rides every day, the impact on consumer comfort, convenience and productivity can be transformative. This will further propel ride-sharing as the first choice of mobility for many more millions,” he said.
Ola Play will be live in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi for all Ola Select customers in a week. In three months, it will be available on all Prime rides across the country. Along with Qualcomm for the hardware partnership, Ola Play also allows various partners like Apple Music, Sony LIV, Audio Compass and Fynd to build a high-quality interactive experience for users.
“As a young Indian company, we’re proud to be at the forefront of the Startup India movement. Ola Play is the world’s first, built in India by an Indian team, which showcases that we can do better than the best in the world, and be global leaders in technology and innovation,” he said.
As Ola Play transfers the control of the in-car experience to users from the Driver Console using consumers’ device. This context-aware system uses customer preferences and current ride information like time and destination to offer personalised recommendations during the ride.
Sony LIV EVP and Head (Digital Business) Uday Sodhi said that Ola Play helps the company offer unique content that is tailored to the needs and preferences of viewers on the move. “We would like to integrate more regional content so that riders can enjoy it in a better way,” he said.