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

  • Renault-Nissan Alliance in Russian JV
    May 4, 2012
    The Renault-Nissan Alliance and state corporation Russian Technologies have agreed to create a joint venture and give the Alliance an indirect majority stake in Avtovaz, Russia's largest car company and maker of the iconic Lada brand. The Renault-Nissan Alliance, Avtovaz, Russian Technologies and Troika Dialog signed the non-binding agreement yesterday in Paris. According to the memorandum, the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Russian Technologies will contribute their respective stakes in Avtovaz to a joint ven
    Read More
  • Inrix acquires OpenCar to challenge Apple and Google in the car
    March 10, 2016
    Inrix has completed the acquisition of OpenCar, a US-based automotive software and services provider, in a purchase which enables Inrix to extend its cloud platform into the dashboard with a broad portfolio of third-party content and applications in a customisable automaker-controlled user experience. OpenCar, backed for the last five years by a strategic partnership with Mazda Motor Corporation, offers a white label, standards-based application development environment and framework, fully controlled by
    Read More
  • Technology solution needed to counter mobile phone menace
    March 29, 2017
    With the UK set to increase the penalties for using mobile phones while driving, the RAC Foundation’s Steve Gooding considers what else can be done to combat this deadly distraction. The first mobile phone call was made in 1973, by an engineer working for Motorola. Today 4.7 billion people across the globe subscribe to a mobile service.
    Read More
  • New solutions for catching texting drivers
    October 28, 2016
    Many countries have laws prohibiting texting while driving but enforcement is proving difficult – David Crawford looks at some new approaches being tried by authorities. Finding definitive solutions – technological, regulatory and educational - to the potentially lethal practice of people driving while using mobile phones is proving elusive, while the stakes grow higher.
    Read More

Highlighted Content