Ola rolls out self-drive cab rental service

Bengaluru: There is one more reason not to own a car now as ride-hailing major Ola on Thursday launched its self-drive cab rental service "Ola Drive".

The service has been initially rolled out for users in Bengaluru, with Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi to follow shortly, the company said in a statement. Ola Drive will appear as a new category on the Ola app.

The service is being rolled out to users in Bengaluru through pick-up stations located across different residential and commercial hubs.

Users can choose to book a car of their choice for as little as two hours by paying a security deposit starting at Rs 2,000.

Ola said it intends to host a fleet of 20,000 cars by 2020 to build and scale up the Ola Drive service across several Indian cities.

"Ola Drive will play a transformative role in defining India's car-sharing market in the next decade," said Arun Srinivas, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Ola.

"In the first phase of its roll-out, Ola Drive will be offered as a short-term self-drive car-sharing service as we look to introduce long-term subscription, corporate leasing, and more options in the times to come," he said.