Kakao Mobility has officially launched a ride-hailing service in Vietnam. According to Business Korea, Kakao chose Vietnam to test because the number of Korean tourists here is very large, and the procedures and legal provisions with mobile services are not as strict as in Korea.
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| The ride-hailing business in South Korea is difficult to grow because of strict regulations. Photo: Business Korea. |
This car-hailing service was launched on January 15 in Da Nang and Hoi An. Tourists can call a car to go from Da Nang International Airport to these two cities. Drivers are directly employed by Kakao Mobility. Korean tourists can book a car up to 6 months in advance with a 9-seater van, and pay through Kakao Pay.
“We will look into the needs of the market when testing. We will expand mobile services globally, starting from Vietnam, ”Kakao Mobility representative told Business Korea.
Vietnam is the first market for Kakao Mobility to test overseas performance. In South Korea, the controversy over ride-hailing services has not ended. At the end of 2019, a court in South Korea ruled that Tada ride-hailing was in violation of the law. Lawmakers are also working to revise the shipping business law to officially ban the service.
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| Kakao’s car rental service was tested in Da Nang and Hoi An. |
Due to domestic troubles, Kakao Mobility has stopped planning to launch services in South Korea in 2019 and instead continues to focus on incorporating taxi companies. The company spent hundreds of billions of won to acquire taxi companies in order to obtain a license to operate a taxi.
However, because the taxi industry in general is still quite backward in technology and slow to integrate new technologies such as AI, Kakao’s project to call T-Venti has not yet operated.
Kakao is a large Korean technology company. Established in 2010, Kakao’s outstanding products include KakaoTalk, KakaoPay, KakaoBank or KakaoT.