Ola launches lightweight mobile website for rural areas

Ola, one of the top cab aggregators in India, today announced the launch of its Progressive Web App (PWA), a lightweight mobile website that offers users, especially in smaller towns and cities, an app-like experience on simple smartphones, requiring a fraction of the data used by native apps. Ola’s PWA will enable the use of its platform across hundreds of cities in India and addresses a significant market opportunity of customers and driver partners.

The website was launched with Google at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco. Ola is the first cab aggregator in the APAC region to launch this technology. The lightweight site can be used to book an auto or a cab across the categories that Ola offers. Once the entry location and drop location is entered, the customer is required to enter their mobile number for authentication. Ola is targeting tier 2, tier 3 and tier 4 cities of India with the new launch.

According to Ankit Bhati, Co-Founder and CTO of Ola, “The launch of PWA technology represents another milestone in Ola’s commitment to building innovative technology that is made for India.   As the first ride-hailing app in the APAC region that is using PWA technology, this represents an important development that will enable us to reach an ever greater number of customers and driver partners in rural India. We have always said that addressing market needs is a key priority and this launch takes us one step further in our commitment to providing mobility for a billion Indians.”