‘Hitch’ car pools to reduce traffic problems
With Spring Festival just days away, tens of millions of Chinese and their pets will travel back to their hometowns for family reunions, creating a travel crush that is dubbed the world’s largest annual human migration.
Undoubtedly, the collective rush to head home will put a huge strain on public transport. With this in mind, Didi Chuxing, the country’s largest ride-hailing company, is offering an alternative by leveraging its technology and capital.
The Beijing-based company said it will spend 30 million yuan ($4.76 million) in February to encourage people to travel home via car-pooling services. This intercity ride-sharing service, called Hitch, matches up car owners who are willing to offer a ride with those needing a lift, in the hope of making trips to their hometown more convenient and cost-effective.
Didi will also partner with Beijing-based non-profit organization Facilitator to send 100 migrant-worker families home without charge, so that they can reunite with their children who are left in their rural hometowns.
Li Tao, founder of Facilitator, which is dedicated to helping migrant workers and leftbehind children, said, “Many warm-hearted car owners are generous enough to offer an empty seat to others - and they need a platform to help reach those who need help.”
Didi forecast that its intercity Hitch services will complete over 33 million passenger trips during 2018 Lunar New Year, including transporting 400,000 pets.
That is three times the number of carpooling services it has delivered in the past year, as the company makes use of enhanced artificial intelligence technology and new safety mechanisms, and steps up its push to expand into smaller towns.
To put that number into context, about 3 billion passenger trips will take place by road, rail, aviation and waterways in the same time frame, according to the State Development and Reform Commission. That’s equal to nine times the entire United States population hitting the road within 3 weeks.
Huang Jieli, head of Hitch, said the company is optimizing its computer algorithms to ensure that more people can match their trips and enjoy carpooling services.
Hitch will establish a safety group that will work 24 hours a day to deal with possible traffic accidents. Image-recognition technologies will be employed to check the identity of drivers and passengers.
“Returning home safe and sound is the top priority of every Spring Festival trip. We will try our best to deliver that,” Huang said.