Ola, India's mobility platform, announces its first in-house AI chip design, targeting 2026 launch.

On August 15 at Ola's 'Sankalp 2024' event in Bengaluru, founder Bhavish Aggarwal announced significant advancements in artificial intelligence and technology. The event highlighted the integration of Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Aggarwal, into Ola Electric and Ola Consumer (formerly Ola Cabs), along with the deployment of Krutrim's advanced AI-powered customer service tool.

Aggarwal revealed ambitious infrastructure plans, including the establishment of a 1-gigawatt data center facility by 2028, marking a significant increase from the current capacity of 20 megawatts. The expansion is tied to the company's vision of launching India's first homegrown AI chip, developed by Krutrim. "Our goal is to push the boundaries of AI chip performance by 2028. This is a bold and ambitious project, but we are committed to delivering our first AI chip for India by 2026," Aggarwal stated. The AI chips, named Bodhi-1 and Bodhi-2, will support over 10 trillion parameters, with Bodhi-2 expected to debut by 2028.

Krutrim's consumer efforts include an Android app for its AI chatbot launched in May. The chatbot, which entered public beta in February 2024, is powered by Krutrim's multilingual large language models and supports over 10 Indian languages, with plans to extend this to all 22 official languages by the end of 2024. The service is designed to compete with major players like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot.

Beyond AI, Ola announced a rebranding of its ride-hailing division from Ola Cabs to Ola Consumer, reflecting the company's expansion into a comprehensive array of consumer services. Ola Share, the ride-sharing service suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been reintroduced in Bengaluru with plans to expand to other cities. The company also showcased automated dark stores—small-scale warehouses where robots manage storage and retrieval of goods—which will be accessible to local Kirana shops and brands on the ONDC network. Additionally, Ola introduced Ola Coin, a loyalty program to enhance customer engagement across its services.