<Anchor> It is a
friendly economic time.
Today (2nd) will also be with reporter Kim Hye-min.
Reporter Kim, most of the time when you take a taxi these days, you call a taxi a lot with the app.
Because people use it a lot, it is said that this market is also very competitive.
<Reporter>
It has become an old saying to wait for a taxi to be caught on the road.
It has become a world where you can simply call a taxi to the front of your house from the app.
Naturally, the app-based taxi platform market has also become very wide, and Kakao Mobility has the largest share among several companies.
Recently, it has even attracted 56.5 billion won worth of investment to Google.
When the acquisition is completed, Google will become the fourth major shareholder of Kakao Mobility.
Other competitors are also gaining weight.
SK Telecom's Tmap Mobility officially launched a joint venture with Uber.
In addition, Soka also has attracted investments of 330 billion won to date.
<Anchor>
But reporter Kim, global companies such as Google and Uber invested in these domestic mobility companies, created joint ventures, and wondered why these things are a little bit like that, and there seems to be another reason.
<Reporter>
There are other reasons.
When we go abroad and look for directions, we look at Google Maps.
However, in Korea, you will see apps made by domestic companies.
So, in Korea, the information of domestic apps is very accurate and detailed.
In addition, Kakao Navi and Tmap also have big data of Korean drivers collected over the years.
It has not been determined how far Uber and Google will cooperate with Korean mobility companies, but considering that the mid- to long-term goal of these companies is the autonomous driving market, Korea is highly likely to become a battlefield for autonomous driving.
In particular, unlike the United States and Europe, there is an analysis that high-speed communication and road infrastructure are concentrated in the metropolitan area, and because of the high population density, Korea is optimized to expand autonomous driving services.
<Anchor> In the
end, it is connected to the autonomous driving market like this.
It is good for mobility companies to expand and develop their business very much, but recently, Kakao Mobility is getting a big backlash from taxi drivers.
Why is it like that?
<Reporter> When
Kakao started his business in the beginning, he connected customers and drivers for free.
It was a very convenient system for both, so the number of people using it quickly increased.
However, not long ago, Kakao started a paid service for taxi drivers.
First of all, there was a'participated taxi'. The taxi driver has to pay a fee of 3-4% for each call, but as the call is'automatically dispatched', the possibility of carrying more customers is relatively higher than that of a regular taxi.
In addition, recently, even if you are not affiliated, you can sign up for membership by paying 99,000 won per month, and there is a function that allows you to see the call of the desired destination first.
Taxi drivers are strongly opposed to the fact that the calling service is paid for, but Kakao is in a position that it does not unconditionally give more calls to paid subscribers.
<Anchor>
But reporter Kim, from the point of view of consumers, frankly, taxi rides have become a little easier because of platform taxis.
So, I think it's natural to give a little more calls to taxi drivers who have subscribed to a paid service, and that this taxi driver receives more privileges.
<Reporter> For
customers, taxi rides have become much more convenient, so I can think so.
The problem is that Kakao has raised its market share to 80% without saying that it will pay for it until recently.
Suddenly, this time, they made a paid conversion, so the drivers were forced to sign up here.
The Fair Trade Commission is also investigating this.
Two months ago, an on-site investigation was also conducted. If it is confirmed that Kakao has given more call assignments only to taxis with paid subscriptions, it is believed that unfair trade practices and abuse of market dominance may be possible.
Even from the perspective of customers, Kakao paying doesn't have anything to do with it.
If a member taxi in the distance is dispatched for catching the call first, customers will have to wait longer for the taxi.
In addition, if the paid service is hardened, it can lead to an increase in taxi fares.
We cannot just stop the platform business that develops differently from day to day, but it is our government's job to induce fair competition within it.