It’s no secret that Uber has had its fair share of hurdles. From competition to issues with operating illegally without licensed drivers in various U.S. cities as well as international countries, Uber has certainly seen its ups and downs. That hasn’t stopped them from trying to flourish, but their growth also hasn’t seemed to stop the challenges coming their way. The latest being that their absolute biggest rival here in the U.S., a competitor known as Lyft, is partnering up with their biggest local competitor in China called Didi. In addition to the alliance between the two companies, both Lyft and Didi have plans to join forces so to speak with other similar services in other countries.
This could be a big hit to Uber who has likely had more trouble in China than any other region. The most notable part of the agreement between both companies will come at a huge benefit to ride share enthusiasts and anyone who uses either Lyft or Didi for this purpose in their respective countries: Both services will share riders in their region, meaning those who are U.S. residents and use Lyft will be able to hail a ride from Didi when in China, and the same is true for the reverse side of things with Chinese residents visiting the U.S. being able to use Didi to get rides from Lyft.
The partnership stems from a $100 million investment from Didi (who is funded by Alibaba and Tencent themselves) into Lyft’s most recent round of funding. This brings Lyft up to a $2.5 billion total valuation. While the partnership between the two companies is a big step for both of them, as well as for the users of their services, it’s due to grow even more should things fall into place between the two and similar rideshare services Ola from India and GrabTaxi from Singapore. Although neither Lyft nor Didi would share any details regarding their status on extending the partnership, if things should open up to those two companies it would make for an even more enticing reason to use any of the four services in the countries where the partnership extends to.