International alliance against Uber grows

According to Re/code, Careem, the Dubai-based ride-hailing company is thinking about joining the international alliance of companies competing against Uber. Last year, Lyft and Didi Kuaidi announced their strategic partnership to allow the companies to work across borders, with GrabTaxi and Ola also joining the alliance later. Currently the alliance covers the US, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, And Thailand. If Careem joined this would include cities in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt. The global alliance against Uber allows the companies to pool resources while also offering a native service.

The world’s most valuable private tech company may have one more rival to contend with. Re/code reports that Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing company, may join the international alliance of companies competing with Uber. U.S.-based Lyft and China’s Didi Kuaidi announced a strategic partnership last year, effectively letting the billion-dollar ride-hailing companies work across borders. Southeast Asia’s GrabTaxi and India’s Ola joined the alliance in December, allowing the users of any one app to book rides with the other partners in their respective regions. “Together, these companies now cover nearly all of southeast Asia, India, China and the US, reaching nearly 50% of the world’s population,” the companies said in a press release at the time.

As it stands now, the alliance covers the U.S., India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. If Careem gets added to the mix, it would include cities in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, too. Though perhaps lesser-known than its foreign counterparts, Careem has made a name for itself across the Middle East and North Africa. The three-year-old company has raised $71.7 million in funding, offering private-car and limousine-style services. And recently, the company has begun to see profitability in the U.A.E., Re/code reports.

A global anti-Uber alliance works in ways that Uber does not, because these companies can pool resources but still draw in native customers who might otherwise be wary of a foreign-imported service. (As U.S.-native Uber has expanded abroad, for example, it’s encountered regulatory battles and protests as local politicians throw up roadblocks to protect entrenched, sometimes powerful transportation interests in a number of cities.)

Elsewhere, Uber (and the global ride-hailing alliance giving it a run for its money) must also contend with the arms race to build and sell autonomous vehicles. This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese Internet giant Baidu (which has invested in Uber) will begin test-driving autonomous cars in the United States. General Motors and Lyft, Tesla, Apple, and Google are all experimenting with versions of self-driving vehicles, too. But relatively little is known about this space, and for now, the future of transportation in all its forms—autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing, car-pooling—is still anyone’s game.