Jean Liu

Liu leads China’s ride-hailing giant, Didi Chuxing, which, founded just seven years ago, dominates the Chinese market (with 90% share) and was last valued at $56 billion. The road has been rocky, though: after the murder of two Didi Hitch passengers in 2018 and the killing of a Didi driver last December, there’s been an outcry among Chinese users about the company’s failure to address public concerns. After briefly suspending its ride-pool service Hitch, Didi plans to re-launch the program. Didi had previously said it will spend 2 billion yuan ($290 million) to upgrade its safety systems this year, including better software and driver training.

Under Liu’s leadership, the company earlier this year spun out its autonomous driving unit into an independent company to raise outside capital and better position it to take on competitors. Didi’s chief technology officer will head the new autonomous driving company as the CEO.

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