(Yicai Global) Jan. 27 -- China's ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has opened an artificial intelligence lab in Beijing in a move to step up research in its sector and help advance global cutting-edge technologies in intelligent transportation.

Didi AI Labs will be led by Didi Chuxing's Vice President Ye Jieping, who is a machine learning expert and a tenured professor at the University of Michigan, tech.qq.com reported yesterday. The research team of the lab, which is composed of more than 200 scientists and engineers specialized in AI research, is expected to expand this year. AI Labs will focus on research and application of forward-looking technologies in machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition and computer vision in order to improve both traveling efficiency and experience among users, Didi Chuxing said.

The platform has made some progress in its field such as recommendation of boarding locations for passengers, intelligent distribution of orders at the backstage and route planning for drivers, Ye said. Demand on car use can be precisely forecast with the integration of AI technologies and Big Data so that advanced dispatch will be possible, he said, adding the accuracy rate of forecast on demand within a space of 15 minutes already reached as high as 85 percent.

Didi Chuxing, established in 2012, had 450 million users as of last year, and provided services for more than 7.43 billion trips throughout the year. The company set up Didi Research in April 2016 and the US institute in Silicon Valley last March, while the AI Labs to be built will be its third institute.