[Los Angeles-June 16, 2019] On June 13, Didi Chuxing (“DiDi”) and Mila signed a strategic partnership agreement at a joint seminar held in Los Angeles. Under the agreement, the two sides will initiate research initiatives, talent fostering programs and academic exchanges in deep and reinforcement learning, intelligent driving, and AI projects with broader positive social impact.
Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, co-recipient of the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award, Mila has leveraged its affiliations with top institutions like Université de Montréal and McGill University to become an international hub for distinguished researchers in deep learning, language modelling, machine translation, object recognition and generative models.
DiDi is the world’s largest multi-modal transportation platform, offering shared mobility and automobile solutions to over 550 million registered users across Asia, Latin America and Australia. Through multiple initiatives including its AI for Social Good Initiative, Smart Transportation Program and GAIA Open Data Project, DiDi works with policymakers, researchers and industry partners to solve transportation, employment and environmental challenges.
DiDi and Mila agree to join resources and capabilities to develop socially beneficial AI technologies and training programs. The two sides also identify a series of joint fundamental research projects, including projects related to intelligent driving and intelligent operation.
"DiDi is Mila’s first and only Chinese partner since Mila moved into its new facility in January 2019, which is an important expansion for Mila,” Professor Yoshua Bengio said. “When we continue to inject new vitality into Montreal's innovation ecosystem, we look at partners that are on the cutting edge of AI and machine learning research. DiDi is a company that is up to speed on ML research, already doing things that many companies haven't even thought about doing. We look forward to working with DiDi on more innovative projects in the areas of deep learning, intelligent driving, and other socially empowering AI projects."
Professor Jieping Ye, head of DiDi AI Labs and founder of AI for Social Good at DiDi, said the two sides share a strong conviction in the social potentials of AI research. “Since 2018, our AI for Social Good initiative has been working with over 10 universities, research institutions and organizations to identify technology solutions in the areas of safety, health, environment and accessibility. This partnership with a recognized leader like Mila will give full play to the advantages of both sides, to inspire new technology breakthroughs in transportation and other areas of critical importance to humanities. ”
About Didi Chuxing
Didi Chuxing (“DiDi”) is the world’s leading mobile transportation platform. The company offers a full range of app-based transportation options for 550 million users, including Taxi, Express, Premier, Luxe, Bus, Designated Driving, Enterprise Solutions, Bike Sharing, E-bike Sharing, Car Rental and Sharing and food delivery. Tens of millions of drivers who find flexible work opportunities on the DiDi platform provide 10 billion passenger trips a year.
DiDi is committed to collaborating with policymakers, the taxi industry and communities to solve the world’s transportation, environmental and employment challenges with smart transportation innovations. The company is working with a growing alliance of car industry players to build out a next-generation auto-solutions and operations platform.
DiDi partners with Grab, Lyft, Ola, 99 and Bolt (Taxify) in a global ride-hailing network that reaches over 80% of the world’s population across over 1,000 cities. Currently, DiDi provides ride-hailing services in Brazil under the 99 brand, operates DiDi-branded mobility services in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Australia, and provides taxi-hailing service in Japan through a joint venture. By continuously improving user experience and creating social value, DiDi strives to build a safe, open and sustainable mobile transportation ecosystem.
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Source: DiDi
