Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (“Didi”) has announced a new bilingual service as it looks to ramp up its appeal to international travelers.
The company, which merged with Uber’s Chinese operations in a $30 billion deal last year, is rolling out an English-language interface initially for riders in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, thus opening the service to potentially millions more tourists and business travelers.
Language capabilities have emerged both as a core selling point and a point of contention in the fast-growing global e-taxi industry. On the one hand, Uber has been gradually rolling out a feature that allows riders to request drivers that speak English, particularly in Latin America, but the company has also been fighting a new ruling in the U.K. that requires drivers to pass an English-language proficiency test.
Simply being able to understand the app’s interface and request a ride is a huge first move in raising the profile of the service outside the Chinese-language market —…