[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] According to the industry on the 5th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has recently rejected a request from startup Coactus to collaborate with Kakao Mobility.

Coactus is the operator of 'Silent Taxi' operated by deaf drivers and has signed a business agreement (MOU) with Kakao Mobility in 2021 to share a platform for receiving taxi calls using Kakao T application (app). If you call a taxi from the Kakao T app, about 100 Coactus vehicles will be allocated to some parts of Seoul.

However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport seems to have changed its position as the taxi industry has recently protested against call sharing.

Coactus is a 'passenger vehicle platform transportation business' (type 1) and is a platform transportation business that can purchase or borrow a vehicle without a taxi license. If Kakao Mobility and Coactus work together, it would be possible to operate on the Kakao platform without a taxi license, and there was opposition from the existing industry that the value of the taxi license would drop significantly. Analysts say that the two companies' platform sharing projects are on the verge of being stranded.

Earlier on Jan. 30, UT's premium service "Black," a joint venture between T-Map Mobility and Uber, also suspended pilot operations for similar reasons.

 

[ⓒ AlphaBIZ. 무단전재-재배포 금지]