Kaomobility Expands 'K-Ride' for Foreigners to 12 Countries

Kakao Mobility's foreigners-only mobility platform, 'k.ride,' is now spreading its wings to 12 countries worldwide, officially accelerating its global market expansion. Breaking away from its previous service solely for foreigners visiting Korea, users in 12 major countries including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Saudi Arabia can now access various vehicle-hailing services such as local taxis, premium sedans, and SUVs, all through a single app. This is the culmination of Kakao Mobility's unique platform technology and operational know-how. Since its launch in June last year, k.ride has already proven its value by providing domestic services like Kakao T Blue, Venti, and Black to foreign travelers from approximately 100 countries. Within 10 months of its launch, it surpassed 600,000 domestic taxi calls and recorded over 600,000 cumulative downloads on app stores worldwide, showing explosive growth. Notably, users from key countries such as China, Japan, the U.S., Taiwan, and Singapore account for 58% of the total, aligning with Korean tourist statistics and boasting high reliability based on actual usage. k.ride has broken down language barriers with its simple registration process and automatic translation feature for over 100 languages. Furthermore, by introducing overseas-issued card and international simple payment functionalities, it enhances payment convenience, providing an optimized experience for foreign users. Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, stated, "It is a global platform that anyone can use without language, account, or payment restrictions," and announced that, starting with this international expansion, the company would continuously advance the platform to enable convenient use of mobility services anywhere in the world. Beyond k.ride, Kakao Mobility is also leading the global mobility market in various ways, including overseas vehicle-hailing and rental car reservation services for domestic users via the Kakao T app, and a taxi reservation service in Guam.