At the Corporate Mobility Service Summit held in Shanghai on June 10, Chinese car-hailing giant Didi introduced its new “AI + one-stop” business travel solution via its corporate arm, Didi Enterprise Solutions.
The launch addresses long-standing pain points in corporate travel, such as fragmented workflows, inconsistent user experiences, and rising costs.
Tackling industry pain points with precision
Corporate travel management has long suffered from inefficiencies like overly complex procedures, data silos, and budget overruns. Didi’s AI-powered agents—namely its Travel Assistant and Management Assistant—automate policy control enforcement, resource recommendations, and itinerary planning. This not only eliminates repetitive manual work, saving employee up to 1.5 workdays per year, but also helps cut hidden costs through dynamic rules like tighter refund policies and granular spending limits. The result is a streamlined approach that aligns with companies’ growing need for cost-efficiency and compliance.
Leveraging its ride-hailing strength, Didi bridges the “last mile” gap left by traditional business travel platforms, offering a seamless end-to-end experience. This differentiated positioning could potentially reshape the corporate travel landscape.
Grounded, purpose-built AI deployment
Unlike generic AI models, Didi’s agents are trained on real-world enterprise data that has undergone strict cleansing and filtering. This minimizes hallucinations and improves recommendation accuracy. For instance, its “cart-style” itinerary planner blends adherence to company policies with personal travel preferences—balancing compliance with user-centric design.
The underlying tech adopts a multi-agent architecture with distinct AI agents to tasks like planning, control, and analytics. While this design can be more efficient than a single model approach, real-world performance will depend on how well these agents collaborate in live scenarios.
Building an ecosystem with resource partners
Beyond the product features, Didi has also partnered with upstream suppliers like airlines and hotel chains to create a “best price” service network. These partnerships allow for Intelligent cross-recommendations (like flight to hotel to ground transport), enabling a more seamless experience and potentially establishing long-term competitive moats.
Remaining challenges and competitive landscape
Despite its strengths, Didi faces several key challenges. Chief among them is data privacy. Corporate travel involves sensitive behavioral data—travel preferences, spending patterns, and more. Striking a balance between personalization and privacy protection will be essential.
The competitive landscape is also intensifying. Rivals like Trip.com Group’s business travel unit Trip.Biz are also investing heavily in AI travel solutions. Without rapid iteration and demonstrable cost-saving outcomes, Didi risks being perceived as just another player in a crowded market.
Furthermore, enterprise travel management involves complex back-end workflows and varied corporate cultures—especially when comparing multinational corporations to state-owned enterprises. Although Didi has amassed experience with over 700,000 corporate clients, its AI agents must continue evolving to accommodate these diverse business context.
If pilot implementations prove successful, Didi could evolve from a mobility provider into a broader enterprise productivity platform. Its capabilities may soon extend into adjacent areas like meeting management, budgeting, and expense reimbursement.
