Didi extends its influence in China's taxi industry

Chinese ride-hailing giant, Didi Chuxing, has signed strategic partnerships with around 50 Chinese taxi firms covering ten major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, in a bid to boost earnings of taxi drivers and improve overall industry efficiency. Didi said it was willing to provide technology and traffic flow to taxi operators and to support the integrated growth of the sector. Under the new deal, taxi drivers can accept bookings from Didi, and drivers on the app will be assigned orders rather than competing with each other for passengers. Didi Chuxing's systems a touted as benefiting taxi firms by helping with real-time monitoring of drivers and performance evaluation.

(ECNS) -- Didi Chuxing, the dominant ride-hailing service provider in China, has entered into a cooperation agreement with nearly 50 taxi companies in more than 10 cities to expand its business scope, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Zhang Bei, the vice president of Didi Chuxing, said the company is willing to provide technology and traffic flow to taxi operators as well as support the integrated growth of the sector.

According to the deal, taxi drivers can accept bookings distributed by Didi Chuxing and take advantage of its smart ride-sharing technology to improve operating efficiency.

In the past, taxi drivers who used the app could compete for orders from passengers. For drivers of companies now working with Didi Chuxing, they will be automatically assigned to an order based on specific conditions, such as distance, road situation and a driver's credit.

Passengers can also rate taxi drivers on the app, a model that will motivate better service, according to Didi Chuxing, which recently merged with Uber's China arm.

The taxi companies are mainly in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing and Sanya.

Wu Jingran, the general manager of a taxi company in Beijing, said the partnership with Didi Chuxing helps with real-time monitoring of a driver's service and assists with work performance evaluation.