The dramatic scene of Kang Jin-hoo rescuing a person who fell from a bridge was broadcast live, captured by cameras below and a drone in the air.
Foreign media also covered the incident closely, and it became a major issue for a while.
– "This is really amazing. I see Kang Jin-hoo in a new light now."
– "What chaebol would go up there and try to talk someone down? I definitely wouldn't go up there."
– "Wasn't the protest caused by Kang Jin-hoo in the first place? It's like he pushed him to go up there."
– "The one who pushed him was the taxi company owner. He's the executive committee member of the taxi business association, right?"
– "You need to jump into the Han River to make an impact!!!"
– "LOL. If he wanted to make that much of an impact, he should've jumped himself."
– "The guy who ordered it and the guy who followed it… Why are they so brainless?"
– "That's how much the taxi industry is struggling. What else could he have done?"
– "Yeah, yeah. How difficult must it be for them, refusing rides every day, picking and choosing passengers, and driving recklessly, ignoring traffic lights? The public should understand everything."
– "The taxi industry needs to reflect on itself with this opportunity."
– "Shouldn't CL Group give him some kind of Righteous Citizen Award this year?"
– "He's getting the Nobel Peace Prize anyway."
The owner, who is known to have given the order, was arrested by the police, but he vehemently denied the charges. He admitted to having the banner made, but claimed he never told anyone to climb onto the arch or jump. However, a text message received by an employee was soon revealed, proving his lie.
The owner changed his story, saying he sent the message as a joke while heavily intoxicated, and that it wasn't a work order. However, the police requested an arrest warrant for aiding and abetting suicide.
– "If you're going to get drunk, just get into a fistfight. Does it even make sense to text an employee to jump into the Han River?"
– "It suddenly reminds me of when they ordered the DDoS attack on the National Election Commission while drunk and angry."
– "Why does this country always use being drunk as an excuse when something goes wrong?"
– "Just let it go. They say they get a reduced sentence that way."
– "I bet you, soon he'll claim he had mental health issues."
– "LOL, that's 100% going to happen."
– "Just execute him cleanly."
The taxi industry distanced itself, claiming no involvement, but the police expanded their investigation to include the organization of which the owner was an executive committee member.
As the police investigation intensified and public opinion deteriorated sharply, the executive committee that led the protest apologized to the public and expressed gratitude to Kang Jin-hoo.
The planned second strike was indefinitely postponed.
After being thoroughly scolded by my mother and Ellie, I was later scolded again by Hyeon-ju. We were only released after we promised that we would never do anything dangerous again and that we would stop each other if one of us was about to do something dangerous.
Taek-gyu, looking like he'd lost his soul, said:
"I feel like I've been completely drained. My sister's temper hasn't died down."
"My mother's nagging storm hasn't died down either."
"Ellie was no joke either. Are you going to be okay?"
"..."
Am I in big trouble?
I lay on the sofa and read the document.
"What are you reading?"
"An analysis of the Korean taxi industry."
"Anything interesting?"
"Yeah. Have you heard of 'Sanapgeum'?"
"The money you pay to the company?"
"That's right."
Instead of paying taxi drivers a monthly salary, Korean taxi companies rent out vehicles for 12 hours and receive about 150,000 won.
After paying the 'Sanapgeum', all the revenue is the driver's. But what if they earn less than the 'Sanapgeum' because of a lack of customers? In this case, they have to make up the difference with their own money. Even after working all day, they might not only fail to earn money but also suffer a loss.
The strange thing is that there is no legal basis for this 'Sanapgeum'.
Common sense dictates that if a company hires an employee, it should pay a salary. Does it make sense to rent out vehicles and receive a fixed usage fee every day?
In fact, it would be more accurate to call them taxi rental companies rather than taxi companies. There have been several attempts to change this to a monthly salary system, but they have been thwarted by the collective opposition of taxi companies.
Due to the 'Sanapgeum' system, a taxi company's profit is not determined by the total revenue the company generates, but by how many taxis are rented out to how many drivers.
In other words, to increase profits, taxi companies need to increase the number of taxis and the number of drivers who will pay the 'Sanapgeum', not the revenue per taxi.
As a result, taxi companies don't need to compete with each other on service. Taxi drivers also resort to all sorts of illegal methods to earn more money, such as picking and choosing long-distance passengers, driving with the meter off, and charging extra fees, as all their losses and profits are determined by the 'Sanapgeum'.
Naturally, the quality of service for all taxis is lowered, and the damage is entirely borne by the passengers.
Everyone has had the experience of having trouble getting a taxi in Gangnam or Hongdae late at night. It would be understandable if there were no taxis to be seen, but in reality, there are plenty of taxis parked on the street. They are all just refusing rides and picking and choosing passengers to their liking.
Perhaps because of this, public opinion on the strike and protest was not very good, and the approval rate for ride-sharing and carpooling exceeded 70 percent.
The reality of the Korean taxi industry is that it is still difficult to get a taxi late at night, ride refusals are rampant, and drivers do not even earn the minimum wage despite working long hours.
That's not to say that taxi companies are making a huge amount of money. Because they only need to provide taxis and rent them out to drivers, collecting 'Sanapgeum', there are many small and struggling companies.
In this situation, external competitors such as ride-sharing and autonomous vehicles have emerged.
So, what about the situation in other countries?
Ride-sharing has been allowed in many countries, and the taxi industry has suffered as a result. But they haven't just taken it lying down.
Taxi industries in various countries have launched their own calling apps and created various differentiated services to increase the competitiveness of taxis. In some countries, Iber and taxis coexist, or the taxi industry has won the service competition and driven out Iber.
On the other hand, the Korean taxi industry has done nothing but strike and protest, and nothing has changed.
This situation has continued for a long time, but no one has been able to do anything about it. Politicians were only concerned about the votes of the taxi industry, and they have brought the problem to this point without being able to do anything.
Taek-gyu asked:
"Would things have been different if Iber had come to Korea?"
"Who knows."
Perhaps, as feared, the taxi industry would have collapsed. But at least the service would have improved significantly.
"But why did Iber withdraw? Was it because it was illegal?"
"That's one reason, but the biggest reason is that it wasn't very profitable."
In fact, paid transportation using private cars is illegal in most countries. Iber started service first and then resolved legal issues by leveraging consumer opinion.
If the market was large and it seemed like it would be profitable, they would have continued to operate by any means necessary. However, taxi fares in Korea are relatively cheap compared to other developed countries, and there is already excessive competition. Therefore, they withdrew and focused on other markets.
The taxi industry is worried that I will immediately bring autonomous taxis to Korea, but autonomous taxis have not even been released yet. And even if they were released, it would be a long time before they were brought to Korea.
First of all, unlike other countries, Korea does not even have proper laws regarding autonomous driving. Under the current law, it is impossible to release AD1 and AD2 in Korea, so it is impossible to release autonomous vehicles in this situation.
I didn't develop the autonomous car, but it's true that I accelerated its development. Of course, even if I hadn't invested in CarOS, another company would have released it in a few years.
If they had gained a few years, would there have been no problems?
Absolutely not. Korea would have done nothing until then, and the same situation as now would have occurred.
Although Korea is the 11th largest economy in the world, there are plenty of markets that are higher income and larger than Korea.
CarOS was busy targeting the US and European markets. Therefore, Korea was far down the priority list.
Can Korea alone continue to oppose autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars while the rest of the world is accepting them?
As the head is boiled, the ears are naturally cooked. There's no need to clash with politicians or transportation operators right now, and get criticized from all sides, to push for ride-sharing or autonomous vehicles.
But my thinking has changed a bit through this incident.
Autonomous vehicles are the trend of the times. No one can stop this.
Developed countries are already rushing to transition to electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. If it's going to happen anyway, they'd rather adapt quickly and get ahead.
So what should I do now? Should I be prepared to be criticized again and jump in, or should I just pretend I don't know and stay still?
Taek-gyu said:
"Why are you worried about that? You're already being criticized."
"...That's true."
"Speaking of which, didn't we invest in a carpooling company?"
"It's called PoolRiding, and K Company invested in it."
It was co-founded by three Korea University students: Yang Doo-seok from Mathematics, Kim Hyeon-gyu from Computer Science, and Jo Baek-hyeon from Visual Design.
I met Yang Doo-seok once before because he's a junior from Sang-yeop's department. By the way, it was also the first company to move into the shared office, OTK Gate.
The reason this hasn't become a big issue is because PoolRiding is still small and hasn't become a target of the taxi industry.
"But if ride-sharing or carpooling is allowed, why will taxis go bankrupt?"
"I told you. If competitors emerge in a state of oversupply and declining profits, they won't be able to survive."
"That's the taxi companies' perspective. Can't taxi drivers work and carpool? Or, the taxi driver could directly enter ride-sharing."
"Hmm..."
When autonomous taxis appear, all transportation jobs will disappear anyway. However, unlike logistics trucks, taxis still have time.
To avoid losing the market to foreign companies later, we need to prepare first.
I folded my arms and thought carefully. As Taek-gyu said, it is necessary to look at taxi companies and taxi drivers separately.
Individual taxi drivers, corporate taxi companies, company taxi drivers, taxi union groups. The taxi industry seems to be opposing with one voice, but if you look closely at the interests, there are slight differences.
I called Sang-yeop to the CEO's office.
"How much did we invest in PoolRiding?"
"1 billion won. Later, Golden Gate invested another 1 billion won. They seem to be working hard to expand their business now."
"I see."
Then I called the PR team leader.
"Please gather some information on Korean ride-sharing and carpooling companies."
Then, team leader Jung Gi-hong asked cautiously:
"Are you planning to enter that field?"
The situation is chaotic right now because of ride-sharing. If I were to actively enter ride-sharing or carpooling, the taxi industry would not stand idly by.
I smiled faintly.
"I'll think about it from now on."
I got in my car and headed to OTK Gate. Since it was in Gangnam anyway, I arrived in just five minutes.
The shared office, which started by renting six floors in a Golden Gate-owned building, has now expanded to eleven floors.
Even now, as the contracts of the companies occupying this building expire and they move out, it is being converted into a shared office and expanded. To go upstairs, you must first pass through the entrance in the lobby on the first floor.
I parked my car and went up to the lobby.
The staff greeted me kindly and asked:
"How may I help you?"
"I'm here to see the CEO of PoolRiding."
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No, I just came. Could you please inquire?"
"I understand. What is your name?"
"Please tell them it's Kang Jin-hoo."
"Yes. Mr. Kang Jin-hoo… Excuse me? Who?"
The staff, checking my face, were startled and all stood up at once.
"Oh! CEO! W-what brings you here?"
"I told you. I came to see the CEO of PoolRiding."
"Ah, yes. I understand. Would you please follow me?"
I went up to the lounge first with the staff.
The lounge, located on the 23rd floor, was like a cafe, and the panoramic view of Gangnam could be seen through the wide open glass wall.
I had been here before it opened, but this is the first time I've been here since the startups moved in.
People working were talking while drinking coffee and beer, which were provided free of charge. Some people, feeling cramped in the small office, were working by the window with their laptops and tablets spread out. I could see some foreigners here and there.
Some people recognized my face.
"Hey! That person looks a bit like Kang Jin-hoo."
"We were talking about work, why are you suddenly saying that? Why would CEO Kang Jin-hoo come here?"
"W-wait. I think it's him."
"No way, really?"
"What? Is it really him?"
Everyone was hesitant, but one person greeted me casually.
"Hello. You're CEO Kang Jin-hoo, right?"
"Yes. Hello."
Then, in an instant, the people in the lounge rushed over.
I shook hands with them and took pictures together.
"Thanks to you, I was able to save money and start a business."
"We just received a new investment."
"Thank you, CEO."
Hearing these words makes me feel proud.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed downstairs to the workspace.
In the modular glass-walled offices, young people my age were working hard. It's not impossible that a company like Gooble or CarOS could be born from here.
And, if Oracle were to show up before then, it would be even better if I could invest.