Daum Kakao announced on March 23 that its app-based call taxi service Kakao Taxi will launch on March 31. The service comes in two applications, one for drivers and the other for passengers. The former was released last month and updated recently. It is the latter that will be launched on the last day of this month.
Daum Kakao is planning to provide the service for nothing for the time being. Users can check the drivers’ and passengers’ comments and the driving histories of the vehicles.
Daum Kakao is likely to compete with Korean companies instead of foreign service providers such as Uber or Easy Taxi. Uber recently reduced or halted its Uber Black and Uber X services in Korea. Although the Uber Taxi service is still working, few cab drivers are working with it.
The Brazilian call taxi application provider Eazy Taxi had entered the Korean market in 2012, ahead of Uber. But the number of its employees in Korea has dwindled from over 40 to less than five between 2014 and this year.
Apart from Kakao Taxi, SK Planet’s T Map Taxi and Limotaxi Korea’s Limotaxi have been or are scheduled to be put into service. Competition among the application-based domestic call taxi services is expected to heat up in April.