‘Invest more in R&D’: Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal on how companies can become self-reliant

Ola chief Bhavish Aggarwal is known for his rigour in rolling out the most ambitious projects. In a recent Twitter post, Aggarwal wrote about the importance of investing more in research and development.
In the post, he wrote, “Our companies (including Ola) need to invest much more in proper R&D than just building application packages and services over someone else's core technologies.”

Aggarwal who runs Ola Cabs and Ola Electric also shared a research report, which tracked and collated data related to artificial intelligence. In the graphics shared by him, names of several institutions from numerous countries (majorly China and the US) surfaced. But there was no mention of India spearheading the R&D space.

Aggarwal wrote that he wants to change this situation.

Recently, Aggarwal also announced the launch of a “technical blog” which would contain various aspects of the Ola S1 e-scooter, including the engineering (including safety and testing they have undergone), deep dive into specific issues, and the processes Ola will follow for deploying various upgrades. The e-scooters are Ola Electric’s flagship products.

The blog, he said, will contain various aspects including the engineering behind the Ola S1 e-scooter (including safety and testing they have undergone), deep dive into specific issues, some of the engineering improvement activities the company is going to undertake and the processes Ola will follow for deploying various upgrades. 

Interestingly, Aggarwal also wrote in the blog that 50 per cent of Ola Electric’s units are made in-house and that the company is trying its best to provide its customers with “world-class features” and have a direct relationship with them.

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