Taxis, ride-hailing firms battle for business on road to Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO – Sony Corp. is helping Japanese taxi firms improve their services, competing against ride-hailing giants Uber Technologies, Inc. and China's Didi Chuxing Technology Co., along with Toyota Motor Corp., in the race for business ahead of the 2020 Olympics.

They are fighting over share of a market that's so far been largely untapped by both technology and ridehailing firms, due to strict regulations protecting the country's large taxi fleets and public transportation services. Sony said Tuesday that it's working with Daiwa Motor Transportation and five other local companies to help better connect taxis with customers. The move comes after fellow Japanese giant Toyota said it's pumping 7.5 billion yen (some $70 million) into a taxi-hailing app.

Didi, meanwhile, has said it's working with SoftBank Group Corp. – which has invested billions in both it and rival Uber – to also create an app.

Despite increased competition in the runup to the Tokyo Games, Uber remains committed to Japan.

It's in talks with existing and potential partners about how they might work together on taxi deployment and autonomous technology, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who took the reigns at the embattled company last year, told a Tokyo symposium.

Japan has largely confounded the ride-hailing pioneer, as opposition from taxi drivers and regulators relegated it to seeking growth namely via fooddelivery service UberEats.

"Clearly we need a different way of doing business in Japan," Mr. Khosrowshahi said.

But he shrugged off concerns about SoftBank – Uber's biggest investor, with a 15% stake – backing competitor Didi. The Japanese conglomerate has invested more than $9 billion in the Chinese company.

"Japan is an enormous market," Mr. Khosrowshahi said. He noted that while SoftBank has investments with Uber's rivals, it has also poured money into companies producing technology that will become important as vehicles become autonomous.

"You have to get used to [SoftBank] doing business with the competition, "he said. "And that's okay."