Why is Ola sharing its API with the world?

During a hackathon on Saturday, Indian ride-hailing service Ola announced the release of its open API. In essence, Ola opened up conversation between some of its application data and that of third party developers.

Known as the application program interface (API), this data is essentially a set of tools that allow applications, websites, or other services to converse with one another. While a private API only provides access to developers working within an organization, an open API allows third party developers to use selected parts of their backend data to integrate the application into their own.

Facebook has an open API. For example, when you hit the button that allows you to share this article on your timeline (it works, try it!), our website sends specifically-coded directions to Facebook that are then understood to mean “share with my friends.”

APIs that connect the digital world to reality

As with all conversation, however, the openness of an API depends mostly on what those involved choose to reveal. Unlike Facebook or Twitter APIs, Ola’s business model requires it to take on a different angle. Because it is a ride-hailing service that uses the digital world to access things in reality, it needs to be a little more… careful with the information it provides.

When Uber first launched its API in the United States, for example, it released two different iterations. The first, open to all developers, allowed third party applications to send destination addresses to the Uber app and access user information like pick up times, fare estimates, and trip history. The second iteration granted developers the ability to actually request rides from inside their own apps. Only a few were allowed to access this version.

This decision may have been made for two reasons: The more obvious first reason is that, in an attempt to maintain quality, Uber did not trust just any app developer to integrate taxi-hailing into their services. The second has more to do with the physical repercussions of Uber around the world. The service, plagued with controversies, has always had a tough time figuring out what they are responsible for and what they are not.

Unlike Uber, Ola allows third party developers to provide their users with the ability to track and book rides on their own application. Its open API allows developers to provide information on their apps about:

• Ride availability: Users can access information about bookable Ola rides.
• Ride estimate: Users can estimate pricing before getting on.
• Ride booking: Users can actually book a ride through another application.
• Ride tracking: Users can track the location of their ride through the API.
• Ride cancellation: Users can cancel rides.

Ola explains that it hopes the initiative will help it reach over 100 million users in the next two years. This, as Uber has shown, will require incentivization for developers.

Currently, Uber provides US$5 discounts for developers every time that a user books her first taxi on the app. It also recently launched its open API in Chinese in order to attract even more new developers.

So many cool things to do with an open API

There have been several innovative uses of Uber’s open API.