For driving next set of growth and keeping focus on the Indian market, Uber is considering the country as the hub for its global research & development (R&D). On a larger note, the ride-hailing firm will incubate startups that will help in solving the transport and mobility problem.
As of now, Uber has 10 centres across the world and India represents the whole Asia region.
The development comes on the lines of the company’s doubling down engineering team in India that may go up to 1,000 techies across functions including product design, data scientist, and AIL/ML experts.
According to Apurva Dalal, head of engineering, Uber India, the R&D centre will be the laboratory to solve global as well as emerging market problems, reports Business Standard.
This is quite significant move from the company which had kicked off its dedicated R&D in India back in 2016. With R&D centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, India arguably has the largest tech presence for Uber outside of the U.S.
Uber Indian unit had recently clocked an annualised gross booking rate of $1.64 billion in the third quarter and counts for 11 per cent of the ride-hailing major’s global operations.
One of the hit products from India, Uber Lite has managed to woo the audience with an ability to work in a patchy network. The product also widely used by 14 countries including Egypt, West Asia, Africa, and South America.
Besides, the R&D centres is developing features like ‘Call to ride’ for elderly people and ‘Dost app’ for drivers community.
The company’s arch-rival Ola had also launched Ola Mobility Institute. The company’s policy research and social innovation unit will help to develop tools to ease the burden of mobility on citizens.
Source: Entrackr
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