Uber, Google forge navigation alliance to crack South Korea's mobility market

Uber set to tap Google navigation the moment it launches in Korea

Google speeds up nav development after map export approval; dedicated team formed

Tmap partnership faces new uncertainty as US tech giants tighten grip

Google and Uber are deepening their alliance to break into South Korea's mobility market.

As Google prepares to launch a navigation service in South Korea, Uber has already laid the groundwork to adopt it the moment it goes live.

The arrangement would establish in South Korea the same ecosystem seen elsewhere — Google providing navigation while Uber integrates it into its ride-hailing service. The coordinated push by the two US companies, spanning maps, navigation and mobility, is intensifying.

Uber and Google have adjusted their contract so that Uber can immediately use Google's navigation service in South Korea as soon as it launches, according to IT industry sources Thursday.

The two companies had previously designated South Korea as a region where use of Google navigation was restricted, a clause that survived multiple rounds of contract revisions. This year, for the first time, a condition was added that would automatically lift the restriction the moment Google launches its navigation service in the country.

Google's navigation service covers real-time turn-by-turn directions for drivers, traffic information and alternative route guidance. Once Google begins offering the service domestically, Uber would be free to deploy the technology across its South Korean mobility operations.

The Google logo. [Reuters]

Industry observers interpret the move as Google's strategy to expand its ecosystem in South Korea through Uber, as the tech giant accelerates preparations for a domestic navigation service following the government's decision to allow high-precision map exports.

The government conditionally approved the export of high-precision maps in February, after which Google began stepping up development of a domestic navigation service.

One concrete sign of that push: Google began recruiting map-related staff in August for Seoul-based positions. The hiring is aimed at securing engineers to develop navigation technology, including real-time turn-by-turn directions for vehicles, sources said.

Industry sources believe Google is targeting a first-quarter 2027 launch of its navigation service and has been completing the necessary groundwork. The company recently blurred satellite and aerial imagery of some military and security facilities in South Korea on Google Maps and Google Earth — a security measure the government required as a condition for approving the map export.

Hotel guests board an Uber taxi outside a hotel in Mountain View, California. [Yonhap]

Google's map export approval is seen as the catalyst for a sharper US big-tech offensive in South Korea's domestic mobility market, with competition set to intensify against local players such as Naver, Kakao and Tmap that have long dominated the space.

Tmap, which has an existing partnership with Uber, faces particular uncertainty. Uber currently runs its South Korean service using Tmap's mapping technology and map and traffic data. Even after Uber and Tmap Mobility unwound their joint-venture equity relationship in 2024, the two companies have continued to collaborate on mapping technology, data and application programming interfaces. That arrangement could now be called into question.

chami@heraldcorp.com