Ola introduces in-car entertainment, OlaPlay

Indian ride-hailing company Ola has launched Ola Play, an in-car system that lets users take control of features inside the car, like entertainment and air conditioning. The cab-hailing service has partnered with Apple Music and Sony Pictures India to provide digital entertainment on the system. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, OlaPlay will allow users to control music, change radio stations, volume controls through Ola app—much like in-flight entertainment.

The OlaPlay service will be launched in for Ola Select customers in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi from this week. It will be available for Ola Prime users in three months across other cities and to over 50,000 vehicles by March 2017.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Ola said in a statement, “The entire Ola team is proud to launch Ola Play, the world’s first connected car platform for ridesharing. 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. 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. As a young Indian company, we’re proud to be at the forefront of the Startup India movement. Ola Play is 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.”

There are reports that Ola is in talks with SoftBank Group and existing investors to raise $600 million in funding. Earlier, the company raised $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion from Singapore’s GIC, Didi Chuxing and Baillie Gifford, a Scottish investment fund.