In a significant development, ride-hailing giant Ola has unveiled plans to integrate its virtual assistant Krutrim into the operating system of its electric scooters. At its annual community event Sankalp 2024, Ola founder Bhavesh Aggarwal stated that Krutrim will be a key part of MoveOS5, the next version of the scooter's software that is slated for beta release by Diwali later this year.
This integration will allow users to leverage Krutrim's conversational abilities directly from their scooters. Aggarwal also shared that Ola's AI arm Krutrim has launched two new apps aimed at improving customer experiences. The first, an AI customer care application, uses natural language processing to automate routine support queries across 22 Indian languages. It has already been adopted by Ola Electric and Ola Cabs to handle customer service calls through conversational agents.
The other new app called Bhashik is a language translation tool that can translate videos and other multimedia content among multiple languages in real-time. Several enterprises like edtech major Unacademy are leveraging Krutrim's technologies to localize their offerings. In addition, the company showed off new image recognition capabilities being added to Krutrim's skillset.
In a bold step, Ola is also setting up its own semiconductor manufacturing plans. It unveiled indigenous AI chip designs called Bodhi that are optimized for advanced machine learning models. The first Bodhi chip is scheduled for 2026 while the next generation Bodhi 2 capable of handling larger AI workloads will be ready by 2028 according to Ola.
On other business fronts, Ola outlined expansions to its mapping services, hinted at new shopping tools powered by AI, and announced the nationwide rollout of its loyalty program and UPI payment platform. The Bengaluru-based mobility player continues to heavily invest in new transportation technologies and artificial intelligence to strengthen its portfolio of smart mobility solutions.
