Uber Technologies, Inc.’s main competitors in China, the United States, Southeast Asia and India — Didi Kuaidi (Xiaoju Kuaizhi, Inc.), Lyft, Inc., GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd., and India’s Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), respectively — have announced a global alliance to take on the mighty unicorn across the globe.

Under the deal, users of each service will be able to use their own service to book transport when visiting countries where one of the others service is available; for example, a GrabTaxi customer from Bangkok will be able to use the GrabTaxi app to book a ride with Lyft when they are visiting the United States.

“Each company will handle mapping, routing and payments through a secure API, providing the best global experience for the millions of travelers that cross between the U.S., Southeast Asia, India and China every year,” the announcement notes.

The four companies between them have raised over $7 billion in venture capital funding and cover 50 percent of the world’s population, and in particular actually dominate Uber in many of the markets they operate in.

China’s Didi Kuaidi is claimed to be the world’s largest one-stop mobile-based transportation platform, providing 7 million rides per day across 360 Chinese cities and delivering an 83 percent market share in private car-hailing. GrabTaxi claims a 95 percent market share in third-party taxi-hailing in Southeast Asia and more than 50 percent market share in private cars. While India’s Ola has 350,000 vehicles on its platform in 102 cities with over 1 million booking requests a day.

“We’re excited to join with Didi, Grab and Ola to make global travel simpler for passengers. Together they will allow Lyft to offer the world’s best coverage while building upon our shared vision of reconnecting communities through better transportation,” Lyft Cofounder and President John Zimmer said. “This isn’t solely a partnership of four companies, but also an opportunity to have a greater impact on the future of our cities worldwide.”

Interesting mix

The deal is an extension of a previously announced hookup between Lyft and Didi Kuaidi back in September and delivers an interesting mix in what is being offered.

Lyft is purely a ride-sharing service, whereas GrabTaxi, as its name may suggest, primarily offers a taxi-hailing service in most of the markets it operates in; this is an advantage in terms of providing superior coverage in more places, but conversely may be confusing for some as a user of Lyft may find it surprising when a taxi arrives to pick them up in a place such as Chiang Rai, Thailand.

It makes business sense for all the companies involved as it allows them to share customers without competing with each other, while also being able to say that their services now have, in many cases, greater coverage in more markets in Asia than Uber, but it does miss one thing: Taxis suck.

I’ve used both GrabTaxi and Uber in Southeast Asia, and from personal experience, and from others I have spoken to, Uber will always win hands down.

In places like Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other areas, Uber offers polite drivers in modern cars, often offering water as well, at a low cost.

While a service like GrabTaxi can compete on price, you only have to have been in a taxi in parts of Southeast Asia to know they simply are not as nice, and while Uber enforces standards and mostly makes sure drivers take a direct route, taxi drivers are far more “creative” in the routes they use to get from A to B.

The ability to use one app while traveling will be available to customers in the first quarter of 2016.

Image credit: jonrussell/Flickr/CC by 2.0