Line is launching taxi service in Thailand; to compete with Grab, Uber

Uber and Grab will soon have a new rival to compete against in Thailand with the coming of 'Line-Man'.

Line-Man is messaging app Line's year-old on-demand services platform that currently spans food delivery, groceries, documents, and parcels. The reide-hailing service, is set to launch before the end of this year.

A taxi service would be the latest addition to Line's diversifying business that currently spans mobile payment, video, music services and more, all aimed at widening its capacity to generate revenue.

Notably, Line has many things in its favor that can give it a jumpstart in the region that currently has names like GrabTaxi, Uber and Easy Taxi ruling the roads. Thailand is one of Line’s four largest markets in terms of users. Plus, Line is partnering with the Bangkok Taxi Cooperative Network, which has 60,000 taxi drivers on its platform, accounting for 60 percent of all registered cabbies in Bangkok.

Unlike Grab and Uber, which continue to operate despite government bans, Line Taxi will not require users download an extra smartphone app. Instead, the taxis can be called using the existing Line app.