Didi continues to increase technology investment in Latin America and further promote sustainable transportation plans.
Ciudad de México. Image credit: Photo by Manuel Arroyo/Unsplash
As part of the plan, Didi will begin operating the first batch of more than 700 electric and hybrid vehicles including BYD, Renault and other major international auto manufacturers in Mexico, of which 200 electric vehicles are exclusive service vehicles of Didi platform.
Didi Chuxing announced its 2020 Smart City Partner Program on Mexico’s first media open day, announcing that the platform will begin operating more than 700 electric and hybrid vehicles across Mexico. This makes Didi the first ride-hailing platform in Latin America to operate a new energy fleet online.
Didi entered Mexico in April 2018 and currently provides online car rental, taxi calling and takeaway services in 32 major cities, covering more than half of the country's population. In 2019, the number of travel orders on its platform increased by about 3.5 times compared to the year before. Didi Takeaway has rapidly expanded into new markets since entering Mexico in early 2019. According to reports, 30% of users and 40% of restaurants on the platform have never used online ordering services before.
Back in June 2019 the company announced its expansion to another two South American countries with over 10,000 local drivers already started providing Didi Express ride-hailing services in Bogota (the capital of Colombia) and the Greater Valparaiso metropolitan area in Chile.
Mao Chenyu (毛 陈宇), head of Didi Mexico, said: “Mexico is similar to China, it is a transportation market full of challenges and great potential for development. We have learned a lot of valuable experience here for more than a year. We hope to get together with drivers and industry partners to provide local people with more comfort.”
In addition, Didi International's data operations and mapping team also published the results of the analysis of traffic data in Mexico City. Based on the data of the Didi platform, the traffic changes in Mexico City are analyzed, which provides a basis for forecasting and scheduling intervention. This is also Mexico City's first transportation big data report.
“Shared travel is part of future public transportation. Didi's use of big data technology in China to effectively alleviate traffic congestion in cities, airports and train stations is very exciting. We hope to start cooperation’s in this area in Mexico,” said Juan Andres Panama, head of Didi's operations in Mexico
At present, Didi has launched online car-hailing, taxi-hailing and take-away businesses in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica, serving more than 20 million users and millions of drivers overseas.
Didi’s biggest rival in Latin America is Uber which is backed by the same investor, SoftBank Group. According to Reuters Didi has grabbed around 30% of the market share since launching in the country last year.
Spanning 32 cities, Didi’s presence in Mexico is its largest outside of China under the Didi brand. Talking about the whole region, Didi also has a significant presence in Brazil, where it bought local ride-hailing company 99 last year and operates under that brand.
EqualOcean has written a 44-page report about didi which explains the company in full detail.