How Orcar redefines car rental industry
Customers use a rented car on Jeju Island. Courtesy of Orcar
The rental car lot at Jeju International Airport is one of those places where the gap between Korea's tourist ambitions and its infrastructure becomes painfully visible. Foreign visitors arrive clutching international driving permits, only to encounter a process that is largely manual, often only in Korean or— if their documents don't match the expectations of the attendant on duty — simply unavailable to them.
For a small team of software developers, this friction was not just a travel annoyance. Instead, it exposed a problem the industry had learned to live with.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Jung Jae-ho together with COO Park Jeong-ki and CTO Lee Jong-wan, Orcar is trying to digitize one of the most frustrating parts of international travel: renting a car in a foreign country. Rather than focusing on the vehicles themselves, the company is using artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify the paperwork and identity checks that often prevent foreign visitors from getting behind the wheel.
Jeju origins
Orcar's origins are rooted in the back end of the industry. Jung, Park and Lee are all computer science graduates and longtime friends who began by developing rental management software (RMS) for Jung's family business: a rental car operation in Jeju. Their mission shifted in 2025 when they saw a group of foreign customers get rejected at a car rental counter due to language limitations.
Jade Kang, who joined the company as CPO that year, recalled the moment the team decided to change direction. "Jae-ho and I were looking at each other like, 'I think there's something there. I think we should pivot our company and build a platform for foreigners.'"
The members of Orcar / Courtesy of Orcar
That pivot transformed the company from a software vendor into a consumer-facing, AI-driven mobility platform. In less than a year, Orcar became profitable, generating more than $1 million in revenue — a milestone that many startups take years to reach. The company has struck partnerships with three medium-sized Jeju rental companies, granting them access to 4,000 vehicles.
Redefining 'contactless'
When Orcar describes its service as contactless, it isn't promising a miracle where cars materialize at the terminal. Instead, it works on verifying the identity and driving eligibility of foreign customers without the need for a human attendant to physically inspect their documents.
"Car rental is one of the most advanced businesses, yet it's one of the most backward," Park said. "The industry requires specific business licenses, on-site knowledge of insurance and mechanical expertise. It’s not difficult technology, but it’s hard for anyone to enter because the entry barriers — regulatory and operational — are so high."
Orcar uses AI to bridge this gap, aggregating country-specific regulations to instantly validate international driver’s licenses and passports. According to Kang, there is no comparable system in the global car rental industry. "I went to Las Vegas and Dallas, to the International Car Rental Association global conference," he said. "There was no company that actually does this, all three verifications together with AI."
Members of the Orcar team pose together during International Car Rental Show 2025 in Las Vegas, April 14, 2025. Courtesy of Orcar
The company has processed more than 3,000 document sets since launch. Its AI customer service agent Mobi handles inquiries around the clock in multiple languages, a feature that proved critical in winning over rental companies who would otherwise have trouble communicating with foreign customers.
The true test of Orcar’s platform came last Christmas, a peak travel period. While the team was managing hundreds of automated reservations, they received an urgent, distress-filled message through Mobi. An international traveler informed them that her husband had suffered a sudden medical emergency and the couple was being rushed to a hospital.
The couple was left in a state of crisis in an unfamiliar environment, and their children were alone in a hotel room in another city.
In a traditional rental model, the company’s responsibility would have ended with the contract. Instead, the Orcar team leaped into action. They coordinated with the hotel, arranged transportation for the children to join their parents on Jeju and provided real-time check-ins for the duration of the family's stay. The family stayed on Jeju for another week while the husband recovered. Later, they gave the company a positive review — something the team values more than paid advertising.
"Regular car rental companies can’t do anything, and they will just ignore," Kang said. "But our team’s been doing that ... those extra miles."
The road ahead
After using Jeju as a testing ground for its model, Orcar is setting its sights overseas. With agreements in place to launch in Okinawa and Costa Rica, the company hopes to apply what it learned on Jeju to other markets where language and regulatory barriers remain high.
If Orcar succeeds, its biggest innovation may not be AI, but instead proving that contactless service doesn't have to mean less human service.
"The entry barrier is still very high," Kang said. "Our competitors may think they can copy our technology. They may be able to do that. But I'm pretty sure they will just fail. Because it's not just our technology — it's our team, our culture, our knowledge. All together, they are the backbone of Orcar."
Visit orcar.ai for more information, or download the app from Google Play.
Alice Hong is a freelance writer and comedian based in Seoul. Follow @hippohong on Instagram.