Skip to main content

Apple invests in Chinese ride-sharing company

Apple has invested US$1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service DiDi Chuxing, a move that Apple chief executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market. According to Reuters, the move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies’ chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. General Motors, for example, recently bought autonomous driving technology company Cruise Automation and has also taken a stake in US ri
May 17, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
493 Apple has invested US$1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service DiDi Chuxing, a move that Apple chief executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market.

According to Reuters, the move aligns Apple with 8336 Uber Technologies’ chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. 948 General Motors, for example, recently bought autonomous driving technology company Cruise Automation and has also taken a stake in US ride-sharing company Lyft.

“We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market,” Cook said in an interview with Reuters. “Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well.”

The investment makes Apple a strategic investor in DiDi and gives it a stake in two growing technologies, the sharing economy and car technology.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Social media a one-stop shop for travel information
    January 20, 2012
    Exponentially widening mobile phone ownership is opening up the field to new ways of obtaining and disseminating better travel information from and to public transport users, via for example social media and tracking riders' phones. Over 50 US transit agencies, including major actors such as TriMet, in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), as well as smaller operators, now have Facebook and/or Twitter accoun
  • The benefit of Lidar: touch, don’t look
    September 28, 2020
    The benefits of Lidar as a safety device for automobiles rather than as an enabler for AVs are easy to overlook – but Dr Jun Pei of Cepton Technologies tells Adam Hill why that would be a big mistake
  • Moovit brings MaaS to Illinois work programme
    December 3, 2020
    Connect2Work includes late-night service from Uber and Via on-demand microtransit
  • Research predicts growth of ANPR market
    October 26, 2012
    In its latest ANPR and Detection Sensor research, US analyst IHS provides a review of the various trends, economic, legislative, and technological, that shape the ANPR industry and concludes that difficult economic times have caused ANPR suppliers to switch their focus, placing greater emphasis on applications that generate a return on investment (ROI). The report forecasts the global market for Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to reach US$350.4 million by the end of 2012, growth of 6.9 percent fr