Market leader Didi Kuaidi launches carpooling service to take on 'the People's Uber'

Mainland China's largest taxi and car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi has launched a car-pooling service as it seeks to head off US rival Uber.

Didi Kuaidi said it has already recruited more than one million drivers to the service, Didi Shun Fen Che (which loosely translates as Didi Carpool). Most drivers were motivated by a desire to "cost share during their commutes" rather than make profit, the company said.

“We are committed to work with the government to build a greener China. Carpooling uses the sharing economy within the internet and travel sectors to reduce the pollution and traffic that can spoil life in big Chinese cities and reshape person-to-person relations,” said Jean Liu, president of Didi Kuaidi.

The service will initially only be available in Beijing, before expanding to 26 cities across mainland China later this month. Users use an app to connect them with a driver, who charges a standard fee of 5-10 yuan for the first three kilometres, around half that of a Beijing taxi, with an additional surchage of 1 yuan per kilometre travelled. The strategy is endorsed by the Beijing government as part of its Green Travel initiative.

Liu said that the company had planned to launch the service for a long time, with the goal to encourage Chinese to adopt carpooling and make a contribution to emission-reduction.

More than 100 million private cars are used for short trips in China every day, she said, and carpooling can reduce traffic and emissions.

However, Didi Kuaidi is entering the carpooling business relatively late and the market is extremely competitive in China.