What was DiDi's initial taxi-hailing app called?

DiDi’s initial taxi-hailing app was called Didi Dache, launched in Beijing in 2012.

The service was created by Cheng Wei and allowed users to request licensed taxis through a smartphone app. At the time, app-based taxi booking was emerging as a way to solve the difficulty of finding a cab, especially during busy periods. Tencent invested in Didi Dache later in 2012, helping it compete in China’s rapidly developing mobile taxi market.

Didi Dache is often confused with Kuaidi Dache because the two companies were major rivals. Kuaidi Dache, backed by Alibaba, was a separate taxi-hailing business. The rivals merged in February 2015, forming Didi Kuaidi, and the combined company later adopted the name DiDi Chuxing, now generally styled DiDi.

“Didi Express” is not the original company name: it was a later service for matching passengers with private cars. “Didi Taxi” describes a service category, but Didi Dache is the historical name of the original app.