Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    DIDI announced last week a partnership with Shanghai Haibo Taxi Co. Ltd., Shanghai’s leading taxi company, to launch private car-hailing services on Haibo’s existing network.

    Under the partnership, Haibo will invest in 500 new vehicles that will be included on Didi’s platform while recruiting new private car drivers from its network of taxi drivers for the newly added cars. Didi will handle passenger requests, vehicle dispatch, navigation and payments and Haibo will be responsible for offline vehicle and driver management and accreditation. The two parties will establish a revenue-sharing model, which takes into consideration driver ratings, ride revenue and other service metrics.

    Haibo will leverage Didi’s leading big-data analysis and machine learning technology to facilitate robust driver and vehicle management. Through this partnership, the two parties will pioneer a replicable model that can benefit taxi businesses in other cities across China.

    Following their collaboration on private car services, both companies plan to form deeper strategic connections on a number of other initiatives, including marketing and certification of renewable-energy vehicles, post-market services, customized bus routes and corporate services and government commissions.