For most expats living in China, ride-hailing has become tougher since Uber quit the market last August.
The company that bought Uber's China unit, Didi Chuxing, removed some key features of the Uber app about three months later: the English-language interface, the option to pay with foreign credit cards, and the ability to work in other countries. As Chinese apps including Didi's tend to not offer services in other languages, most foreigners have essentially been left out of the local ride-sharing market for the past four months.
Now Didi is finally introducing an English language interface - not for the Uber China app, which it still runs, but for its own app. On February 18, Shanghai-based expat Mathieu Bouchara reported that he was getting an English version of Didi after updating the app on his Android phone. Bouchara detailed his user experience in his blog, and posted screenshots of the new English interface:
"Not everything is translated yet but most of the interface is," "I guess it will help a lot of expats whom don't speak or read Chinese." He said the app automatically reverted to the Chinese interface this morning (February 21) after he had used the English version for three days. The English version is likely enabled as a beta test for selected users only, he added.
Last week, Didi announced that it had set up an international business division, and made "exploring new models for internationalization" one of its top priorities for 2017. Aside from its takeover of Uber's China business, Didi also owns a stake in every major ride-hailing company on the globe, including Ola, Grab, Lyft, and Uber's global unit.
As a result of these investments, Didi users from mainland China can use the app to grab a cab with the equivalent local service when they are traveling abroad. Of course if the company wants foreigners to use the Didi app in their own countries, that could prove difficult considering the already saturated ride-sharing markets in the US, India, and elsewhere.
For most expats living in China, ride-hailing has become tougher since Uber quit the market last August.
