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SoftBank, Didi to roll out taxi-hailing business in Japan

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TOKYO: SoftBank Group Corp and China’s Didi Chuxing are teaming up on a taxi-hailing platform for Japan, becoming the latest venture to bet on a market that’s lagged behind the rest of the world.

Called Didi Mobility Japan, the business will start trials this year in Osaka, followed by Tokyo, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Okinawa, the companies announced.

Taxi operators will be able to track drivers and rides using heat maps, while passengers will be able to summon rides and rate drivers via an app, which will also offer ChineseJap­anese translatio­n.

Long dominated by taxis, Japan’s 1.7 trillion yen (US$15bil) car-transport industry is starting to show signs of change.

Sony Corp is working on a joint venture with taxi companies called “Everybody’s Taxi.” Japan Taxi, the dispatch app run by the chairman of Nihon Kotsu Co, has also been actively promoting its services. Uber Technologi­es Inc is starting a taxi-hailing pilot program in the remote island of Awaji.

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics just around the corner, taxi operators are looking for ways to make it easier for customers to hail cabs and get to their destinatio­ns.

“Technology can be not just disruptive but also collaborat­ive and inclusive,” Didi president Jean Liu said at the briefing. He didn’t specify any taxi partners, although Didi was in talks with taxi operator Daiichi Koutsu Sangyo Co last year.

Ride-hailing, where private-car owners can use their own vehicle to pick up and deliver passengers, is illegal in Japan. As a result, any ride-hailing services in Japan are essentiall­y taxi and car-dispatch services.

Earlier yesterday, SoftBank chief executive officer Masayoshi Son deplored Japan’s regulation­s, saying that they stifled innovation.“In Japan, ride-hailing is prohibited by law. It’s incredible that our national government is denying the future that is inevitable,” Son said at SoftBank World, the company’s annual two-day event for customers and suppliers. “Is there a country that is as stupid as that?”

SoftBank and Didi, which first announced their partnershi­p in February, is driven by Son’s status as one of the most influentia­l investors in ride-hailing.

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