Kakao Mobility to Develop Taxi Matching System Improvement Plan by Q4

Kakao Mobility, together with the Korean Society of Transportation, gathered opinions from various sectors to explore ways to improve the taxi matching system. While maintaining the current method where drivers select and accept destinations, they are expected to design an algorithm that enables faster connections between drivers and passengers.

On the 13th, Kakao Mobility announced on the 14th that it held a forum titled "Achievements and Future Directions of Taxi Mobility Platforms" at the Korea Science and Technology Center in collaboration with the Korean Society of Transportation. The forum was organized to gather diverse opinions from academia, the taxi industry, consumer groups, and the government to seek a desirable development direction for the taxi matching system.

Starting with a presentation on "Achievements and Development Directions of the Taxi Matching System" by Kakao Mobility CTO Yoo Seung-il, the forum was chaired by Professor Kim Hyun of Korea National University of Transportation, who led a discussion on "Goals and Future Directions of the Matching System." Panelists included ▲Professor Jeon Seong-min of Gachon University ▲Professor Lee Hwang of Korea University ▲Section Chief Yoon Seong-bae of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ▲Executive Director Ko Jun-ho of the Korean Society of Transportation ▲Executive Director Lee Yang-deok of the National Taxi Transport Business Association Federation ▲Chairman Jang Gang-cheol of the Korea Private Taxi T-Blue Association ▲Secretary General Jung Ji-yeon of the Korea Consumer Federation, who shared a variety of perspectives.

The panelists commonly agreed that user convenience should be prioritized on taxi platforms and emphasized the need to enhance communication to improve the transparency and understanding of the matching system. Secretary General Jung Ji-yeon of the Korea Consumer Federation stated, "It is a very meaningful attempt that Kakao Mobility has had the opportunity to analyze the algorithm through the operation of the Transparency Committee," adding, "If organizations like the Transparency Committee operate based on more diverse governance, it would be more effective in securing trust and consensus regarding the matching system."

Executive Director Lee Yang-deok of the National Taxi Transport Business Association Federation stressed the need for social consensus on the taxi matching method, saying, "I hope that the franchise industry will take root in the taxi sector, improving service quality and forming a unique taxi culture." He added, "Given the very difficult situation the taxi industry currently faces, I hope Kakao Mobility will achieve innovation based on coexistence."

Section Chief Yoon Seong-bae of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport commented, "It is a commendable attempt that Kakao Mobility voluntarily organized the forum and initiated improvement efforts," and added, "It is necessary to gain social consensus on a desirable taxi matching method by comprehensively considering public convenience, perspectives of various stakeholders, and the profit-seeking stance of platform companies. I hope active discussions will continue in the future."

At the forum, Professor Kim Jin-hee of Yonsei University also presented the "Passenger-Taxi Matching System Analysis Results and Recommendations" from the Mobility Transparency Committee (hereafter Transparency Committee). Established in January 2022 with the goal of objectively diagnosing the taxi matching system, the Transparency Committee announced the results of source code verification of the Kakao T taxi matching algorithm in September of the same year. As a follow-up, it stated that it would complete research on the development direction of the Kakao T taxi service through additional analysis of matching performance data and gathering opinions from various sectors.

The Transparency Committee revealed that, based on a survey of about 5,000 users, affiliated drivers, and non-affiliated drivers, it was generally important to "design a matching algorithm that enables fast and reliable matching while maintaining the current method where regular drivers select and accept preferred destinations."

Furthermore, since the driver's call card acceptance rate is an important factor for consumer benefits, the committee pointed out the need to go beyond discussing whether to reflect this variable and to make efforts to encourage each driver to increase their acceptance rate. The Transparency Committee also delivered recommendations to Kakao Mobility, including strengthening transparency of the matching method and establishing procedures for collecting public opinions.

Based on the opinions from various sectors and the recommendations of the Transparency Committee presented at the forum, Kakao Mobility plans to prepare a development plan for the taxi matching system in the fourth quarter.

Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said, "Kakao Mobility has built a mobility platform that embraces taxis, which is rare worldwide, and since there are no comparable cases to refer to, we are listening to the opinions of various stakeholders regarding the desirable direction of the matching system." He added, "As Kakao T Taxi has become a nationwide mobility infrastructure in everyday life, we will strive to enhance the transparency of the matching system and continuously improve it to contribute to improving the convenience of public transportation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.