Ola to use customer data to improve user experience

After rolling out its latest update for iOS 10 that includes Siri and Apple Maps integration, Ola has unveiled another set of new technology solutions to further improve the user experience.

The cab aggregator is using maps, geo-tagging and vast amounts of customer data to allow drivers to more precisely locate customers and to allow users to provide more precise location information to drivers.

Ola co-founder and CTO Ankit Bhati said, “Indian roads and locations are different compared to other geographies and it needs a different treatment. Hotspots are one innovative feature that will reduce waiting time for passengers and drivers and improve the overall user experience.”

Hotspots will help in crowded areas such as tech parks, housing colonies, malls etc. The customers can tag these while making a booking, and the driver, in return, will see the names of these landmarks, rather than geographical location, minimizing confusion and efforts put towards directing him to the correct location.

The second feature uses past rides as a reference when triangulating the user's historic pick-up point vis-a-vis booking point. "Years of operations have helped us collect a lot of data about a user's booking and boarding pattern. This feature helps us analyze and use that data to provide an advanced boarding experience to our high-frequency users," Ola said.

The third feature, named 'Share Directions', allows a user to feed in the landmark closest to their pick-up location, which will help to avoid the back and forth on calls between the user and the driver.

Ola is implementing local solutions powered by technology to improve the user experience, and at the same time, to win over the Indian market.