Didi plans to expand taxi-hailing service to 20 cities in Japan, claims leading market shares in some

Didi Mobility Japan, a joint venture between China’s largest ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing and SoftBank Corp, said that their taxi-hailing services have now been available in 12 major areas including Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka for one year.

The service has achieved leading shares in the taxi-hailing market in key cities of the Kansai region (which includes Kyoto and Osaka), as well as other areas, Didi claims in a press release. Ride-sharing, which relies on drivers with their own cars, is banned in Japan – so even Uber is also operating in the taxi-hailing business. Uber launched a taxi-hailing pilot on the island of Awaji (near Osaka) by teaming with 20 local taxi firms, according to a Reuters in May 2018.

Didi added that its Japanese app was also the most downloaded taxi-hailing app in Japan in August and September 2019.

Behind its popularity is Didi’s efforts to localise, which is showcased by its efforts in adding a function to its app interface, allowing drivers to fulfil the order picking process via voice interaction to replace manual efforts. Using a phone while driving is prohibited in Japan.

Didi, which has teamed up with over 300 taxi firms in Japan, also announced a plan to expand its taxi-hailing services to 20 cities in the country by the end of this year.

Didi told KrASIA on Wednesday that Japan is the world’s third largest taxi-hailing market by size and it hopes the country could become one of the most important overseas markets in its global expansion.