SEOUL, Jul. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — In what could signal an end to a monthslong tussle between conventional taxi service providers and new mobility platform operators, the government on Wednesday proposed easing regulations for new ride services, while outlining measures to support the taxi service industry. The taxi industry has been at odds with ride-sharing [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Doing business in a legal gray area needs a lot of guts and an elaborate scheme, and that is especially so in South Korea’s tightly regulated taxi industry, which sets high barriers for mobility startups seeking to enter the market without taxi licenses. The latest major challenger is Tada [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Controversy looms over innovation and protection of victims as the dispute between Tada, a ride-hailing service, and the taxi industry continues to deepen. Experts argue that the 4th Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the sharing economy has made it inevitable for the ride service industry to go through [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., will invest a combined 338.4 billion won (US$300 million) in India’s biggest ride-hailing firm, Ola, in their single biggest investment ever, Hyundai said Tuesday. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will invest $240 million and $60 million, respectively, in Ola to [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co., South Korean’s largest carmaker by sales, said Wednesday that Singapore-based Grab began using its Kona Electric for its ride-hailing service this month. In November, Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. jointly invested US$250 million in the Southeast Asian company for a business partnership in [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean mobility startup VCNC said Monday it has launched a new ride-hailing service in Seoul and an adjacent city with 11-seat vans in a move to get around a local transportation law. VCNC said hundreds of its passenger vans offer a service called Tada in Seoul and Incheon, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Mobility, a South Korean firm that provides ride-hailing and driver-for-hire services, said Thursday that it has invested 1.5 billion yen (US$13.4 million) for a 3.4 percent stake in Japan’s largest taxi-hailing service, JapanTaxi Co., in a move to expand its services beyond the home market. The two firms [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Kakao Mobility, a South Korean firm that provides cab-hailing and driver-for-hire services, said Tuesday it has added an artificial intelligence (AI) function to its ride-hailing operation. The AI-based “smart call” was added to South Korea’s most popular cab-hailing app Kakao Taxi so that a user can request a driver [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Holdings Co., the holding firm of South Korean energy and telecom conglomerate SK Group, has invested in Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Grab, a company official said Thursday. SK Holdings made the investment in mid-March, Lee Young-suk, an official handling brand management at SK Holdings, said. “We are interested in [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest carmaker by sales, said Thursday it invested in the Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab for a possible business partnership in the transportation service sector. Hyundai Motor reportedly invested tens of billions of won to acquire a stake in Grab so it could get [...]