China’s top ridehailing service, Didi Kuaidi, today rolled out its public SDK (software development kit) enabling third-party apps in the country to bake in the ability to hail a Didi ride from within their own apps.
It comes just days after Didi claimed 1.43 billion rides in 2015. By comparison, it took Uber six years to hit the billion-rides milestone, however, Didi admittedly offers more services than Uber — including traditional taxi tie-ups and even buses.
Above: Hailing a Didi ride from within the Tencent Maps mobile app
Image Credit: Didi Kuaidi
Uber’s China unit, which just raised more cash this week at a $7 billion valuation (Uber keeps its China operations separate from its main U.S. entity), similarly rolled out its public API to developers in China in September — likewise enabling third-party apps to hail an Uber.
Didi says it’s already been piloting the feature in apps including Tencent Maps, WeChat, AliPay, and on-demand service provider Dianping, among others. Uber already enjoys integration with Baidu Maps.
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