Didi eyes bigger share of ODM market

GUIYANG - Cheng Wei, founder of on-demand mobility (ODM) service Didi Chuxing, outlined the company's expansion plan for the coming years, citing electric cars and research into driverless vehicles.

Didi has amassed 14 million registered drivers worldwide since it was founded about four years ago, said Cheng, during the ongoing "China Big Data Industry Summit & China E-commerce Innovation and Development Summit" in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province.

"Didi is an epitome of the sharing economy. In the future we aim to change the way people own and use their cars and really develop smart transportation," he said.

"Chinese cities will get increasingly more congested due to the growing population and underdeveloped road infrastructure. Why would you want to own a car when you only spend four percent of your time driving it?" he said.

Didi will continue to improve efficiency and the travel experience, while lowering the costs born by its users.

With nearly 300 million users in over 400 Chinese cities, Didi holds about an 87 percent share of the on-demand private car market in China and about a 99 percent share of the on-demand taxi market, according to the company.

Didi has also invested in its peers Lyft in the United States, Grab in Southeast Asia and Ola in India to compete with rival Uber outside China. It received $1 billion investment from Apple.