Uber, Alibaba Partnering To Expand Ride-Hailing Service To China

BEIJING (KCBS/AP) -- Ride-hailing service Uber and the online payments unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group are expanding a partnership to allow Chinese travelers to summon and pay for a car anywhere Uber operates.

The agreement announced Tuesday adds to expanding links between U.S. and Chinese companies in the growing global market for smartphone-based transportation services.

Uber and Alibaba's Ant Financial said Chinese travelers will be able to use either company's app to summon a car in 400 cities in 69 countries where Uber operates and pay for it using Ant Financial.

Uber riders have been able to use Alipay to pay for transportation in mainland China since 2014. That expanded to this year to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

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