(ECNS) -- Chinese consumer app Meituan Dianping will officially launch its new ride-hailing service in Shanghai tomorrow, but it remains unclear when it will hit the Beijing market.
The group-buying and dining information platform will offer subsidies at the start of the service, providing a guaranteed income of 600 yuan ($95) if a driver is available for 10 hours online and handles 10 deals in total during work hours from 6 a.m. to midnight.
In the first several weeks, drivers are free of commission in using the app, except an information charge of 0.5 yuan per deal, according to business information portal AIcaijing.com.cn.
Time Weekly also reported that Meituan Dianping will begin the service at the end of this month in Beijing after authorities required it to go through procedures and apply for permission to carry out ride-hailing services first.
Meituan Dianping has been preparing drivers and users for its new ride-hailing platform as it gears up to challenge Didi Chuxing, the world's largest ride-hailing company. Meituan Dianping charges 8 percent commission from drivers in Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province, much lower than Didi Chuxing's 20 percent.
Meituan Dianping has tapped into the ride-hailing sector because 30 percent out of 250 million active users have demanded transport services, according to media reports. The platform aims to improve its service functions and to become an integrated O2O (offline to online) platform.
Amid measures to cement its dominant market position, Didi Chuxing plans to raise 10 billion yuan through asset-backed securities to help car-leasing companies on its platform procure new vehicles.
Didi Chuxing will launch a food delivery business in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province on April 1, Beijing News reported. Didi is recruiting delivery people offering attractive pay, with some already finishing their initial training, the report said.
