Car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi partners with second major Chinese city to crack down on illegal cabs, cement its legal status

Didi Kuaidi, China’s leading ride-hailing app, will work with a second local government to help authorities in the southern Chinese city verify information on taxi drivers that use the app and crack down on illegal cabs operating without licences, it said this week. 

The company, whose operations have invited a backlash from established taxi monopolies this year, will create a taxi information service platform with the municipal government of Zhuhai in Guangdong province to better share industry data and resources, it said on Wednesday. 

In a joint statement, the two parties said that sharing data will improve the city’s transportation system and help make people’s commutes easier and safer.

Didi Kuaidi launched a similar platform in cooperation with authorities in Shanghai on June 1. A number of big taxi companies in China are government-backed and view such apps as a threat.

Different cities in China have yet to standardise how they deal with ride-hailing apps, but top market players Didi Kuaidi, Ucar, Yongche and San Francisco-based Uber were ordered this month to “restructure” their operations in line with national regulations.