Liu Qing

And how she’s impacting the world

A woman wasn’t regarded as a great business person a few centuries ago. That wasn’t such a long while ago, you know. But now, we have all the right in the world, and should respect and shoutout these women who have done amazing things!

Liu Qing fought breast cancer, she was named in Working Mother’s “Top 50 most powerful moms of 2016,” And was also mentioned in many news and articles, one among many being China Entrepreneurs Magazine! Liu Qing is very worthy of the title Working Mother’s gave her, as she balances so much work as a single mother with three kids to take care of!

She Means Business!

Being the president of the world’s largest ride-hailing company, she has had a big impact on many recognizable companies.

For example, Didi Chuxing went head-to-head with Uber in their homeland: China! It was like a big basketball game, but with real serious implications on China’s transportation industry.

But guess who won???

Liu Qing, and her company that amassed 550 million users and millions more of drivers. (2018) but that’s not to say that Uber didn’t put up a fight: Liu Qing seemed to be more formidable opponent against Uber founder Travis Kalanick, and the titanic fight just shows Liu’s integrity and endurance. Both companies poured in a ton of money, and a year long battle ended with Uber China taking a 17.1% stake in Didi, and leaving China in 2016. Here’s a short video for the video-learners out there, right here.

Didi Chuxing

Didi Chuxing is in Mandarin, the Chinese language. The phrase literally means, Taxi, taxi, let’s go on a trip! Though the phrase is unorthodox to us, it’s legitimately what the company is doing right now. And not only that, but also making a big old impact on us!

Didi Chuxing: Solving Problems

The company is taking steps to innovate the transportation industry, and one of their facilities in sunny Mountain View, California is a solid initiative for AI driving services and even security!

One major example of an innovation is their GAIA, launched in January. It’s purpose is to amass anonymized and aggregated (To form into a cluster/group) data to improve transportation infrastructure. GAIA is an initiative that has been launched globally during the 97th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, DC.

The data is accessible to anyone, and scientists don’t get special treatment either; They have to sign up just like everyone else! The website is right here, and you can sign in anytime to view datasets!

How Do They Collect This Data?

Didi Express and premier are the services used to collect the data used in GAIA. This is the website where you can see data, but you must sign up/sign in before seeing anything.

Here’s the link!

There are 4 types of services to select, including Luxe, (luxury car) Express, Premier, and Taxi; this is simply for calling a Taxi, but with the app. But… We only focus on Express and Premier because they’re the two types of services that are surveyed on GAIA.

Didi Express

As it goes, there are three sub groups that make up this service in the app. They are as listed:

• ExpressPro: Basically an Uber pool (car pooling with others) option!
• Express: You will be given a driver who is the closest to you!
• Select: A well-rated person with good experience will be your driver!

Didi Premier

This is basically premium for the app user, and includes three sub groups like the service mentioned before.

• Comfort: You’re offered a professional driver.
• Six Seater: A SUV sized car, that may hold around 6 people and driven by a professional.
• Luxury: A professional and a nice car!

Both of these services are tracked, with all people anonymous, from the beginning of the journey to the end. The routes taken, traffic, and experiences, they’re all going towards the already large database that they have established. You can even choose to sign up and contribute to it yourself, or view the data but it is explicitly stated that it is only for academic use. The user feedback given can help Didi Chuxing see the problems to improve on, such as —

1. Taking better routes, to avoid congestion.
2. Better translation, improving communication with English speakers who interact with non-English speakers.
3. Issues with arrival and pick up times, because of the mix with amateur drivers and professional drivers.

Although all of these problems are concerned with convenience, they’re not less important than the huge number of people who use the application. They depend on this app for rides, and if Didi doesn’t deliver then another company will come in and swoop customers.

But other than that, I wanted to speak about one last trait that Liu possesses.

Her Vision For The Future.

Liu, as the president of Didi, has fended off Uber. She had struck a 1 billion funding deal with Apple in 2016, likely for the research being conducted by the research lab in Mountain View for the autonomous vehicles and redesigning the structure of the transportation system. She will use AI technologies, and probably create a whole new system based on what Liu has done already; She will most likely achieve those dreams of hers. I only hope it is seen in effect within my lifetime!