Beijing (PingWest)- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is expanding its presence across Australia and intentify competition against the rivals Uber and Ola in the country.

The Beijing-based company, which entered the Australian market in mid-2018, said it plans to expand its operations to smaller cities and towns in Australia, reaching 3 million more people, in the latest move by the company to push its global expansion.

Starting August 10, Didi will extend its express service in 20 new regional cities and towns Adelaide, Ballarat, Bendigo, Bunbury, Bundaberg, Busselton, Cairns, Canberra – Queanbeyan, the Central Coast in NSW, Coffs Harbour, Gladstone – Tannum Sands, Mackay, Hervey Bay, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Shepparton – Mooroopna, Toowoomba, Townsville, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong.  

 Since stepping into the Australian market in May 2018, Didi has been available in eight cities including the country’s four largest – Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. It has around 75,000 regular drivers and 1.5 million active passengers in the country.

Apart from Australia, Didi also runs business in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. In June, the firm said that it would entirely cease its taxi-hailing service in 11 regions in Japan from July 1 due to lack of demand for rides caused by the pandemic.

In February, Roy Morgan research released a paper on ride-hailing service in Australia, in which the company indicated that Ola and Didi have quickly gain significant market shares despite Uber dominated the Australian market with a majority market share. Australians over 18 who used a ride-hailing service in the latest three months, 93% of them using Uber, 20% using Ola and 14% calling a ride with Didi-with some using all three.

Expanding overseas is one of Didi’s core strategies after it became the top player in the domestic market. Since Uber retreated from China four years ago, Didi has invested in Grab and Ola in Asia, Lyft in the U.S, 99 in Brazil, Taxify in Europe and Careem in Dubai.

Despite the negative impact from the Covid-19, Didi Chuxing in March has announced a plan to complete more than 100 million rides per day within the next three years, which is nearly three times over Didi’s current daily capacity.

The plan dubbed “0188” is made up of goals that includes at least 100 million daily orders, monthly active user base of 800 million globally and a penetrations rate of over 8% in the domestic mobility service market including public transport service lie bus services and private transport service like ride-hailing.