Fresh and driver-friendly: Meituan Dache’s first day in Shanghai

Earlier this year Meituan Dianping, the Yelp of China, declared war against its food-delivery rival Eleme and ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing with the slogan  “灭饿除滴” (Take Down Ele.me, Wipe Out Didi). Now, Meituan has made the move to enter the ride-hailing business.

The Beijing-based e-commerce platform has launched its new ride-hailing service Meituan Dache (美团打车) in a second city, Shanghai, on Thursday March 21st. After an 11-months long testing phase in Nanjing, Meituan started expanding its testing operations to other cities last December, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, and Xiamen, 

However, its Beijing operation was soon suspended due after the comapny was called in by the Beijing Communications Commission for not meeting the necessary criteria. Following the incident, Meituan has obtained the “Online Taxi Booking Business Operations License” for its Shanghai operation.

What you get

Full access to all premium content and our full archives

Members'-only newsletters

Preferential access and discounts to all TechNode events

Direct access to the TechNode newsroom