Didi expands ride-hailing service in Japan, Latin America

Beijing-based ride-hailing service provider Didi Chuxing is expanding  operations in Japan and Latin America. 

Didi offers a taxi-hailing service in Japan via a joint venture formed a year ago with local investment company SoftBank Corp. The partnership will make the services available in eight more Japan cities by the end of the year, starting with Niigata on October 9, Didi said.

The joint venture now provides taxi-hailing in 12 Japanese cities which boast more than half of Japan’s population. The cities include Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. 

Didi also plans to launch taxi-hailing in Colombia later this year. In June, it kicked off pick-up and carpool services in the Colombian capital of Bogota and Chile’s second largest city, Valparaiso. 

In 2018, Didi entered Brazil by acquiring leading local ride-hailing app 99. Last year, the company also began to provide ride-hailing services in Mexico, where it now operates in 19 cities, including the country’s capital, Mexico City. 

Last year, the company also started operations in Australia. 

Its ride-hailing and car-sharing platform works with some 2 million taxi drivers and more than 31 million rideshare drivers worldwide, Didi said.