Ola launch service in London

Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms, is now live in London.

The platform is now fully operational and has over 25,000 drivers registered in the capital offering three categories of rides to customers: Comfort, Comfort XL and Exec.

Ola has expanded rapidly across the UK since its launch last year, operating across 27 local authorities. Cities including Birmingham, Coventry and Warwick have seen more than double-digit growth in rides in the last quarter.

To date, Ola has provided around 3 million rides with over 11,000 drivers operating on the platform outside London.

Last week the ride-hailing platform launched three new safety features, called ‘Guardian’, that they claim sets new standards for ride-hailing safety in the UK. The Guardian feature, developed by Ola, uses machine learning to automatically detect irregular vehicle activity, including prolonged stops and unexpected route deviations.

Simon Smith, Head of Ola International said: “We are thrilled to now be live in London. This is a major milestone for our business and represents the next step in our ambitions to connect people in cities throughout the country. We are proud of the progress Ola has made in the UK and we look forward to building on our success by offering a differentiated service to Londoners, focused on quality, safety and reliability.”

Ola’s service is available in 250+ cities around the world, in India, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The new operator in London will look to capitalise on Uber’s licence rejection in November 2019. Global rival Uber lost its licence to operate in the capital following safety concerns.

Image credit: Ola