Last Updated on May 20, 2016

Didi Chuxing may be one of the most electrifying companies in the world right now. The Chinese ride-sharing service just received a $1 billion dollar investment from Apple, and is poised to grow significantly in the coming year. Which is why we are thrilled to partner with Didi on the global Di-Tech Algorithm Competition, which boasts a $100K prize for the winner, and perhaps more exciting, the opportunity to join the Didi Research Lab and work on innovations that will affect hundreds of millions of riders.

Machine Learning and Didi Chuxing

Didi currently processes over 11 million trips, plans over 9 billion routes, and collects over 50TB of data per day. Machine learning strategies are vital to the company’s success, and with growth comes the need to constantly improve on core algorithms, especially those that impact supply-demand forecasting. The competition is a challenge to machine learning and big data students around the world to improve how the company ensures riders always get a car when and where they need it, and drivers know where to be even before a ride is hailed.



Didi has just published the competition data set, and registration closes on June 17 when the first round submission is due. The Top 10 teams will be invited to Didi in July to compete for the top prize. Given Didi’s incredible rate of growth, the winner stands to seriously impact the world on a massive scale!

Udacity and Didi Chuxing: Partners

We are proud to announce that we are the exclusive education partner for this competition. Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun recently traveled to China to meet with the Didi team, and will be one of the judges for the competition, together with He Xiaofei, Ping Yeijie, and Liu Wei from Didi’s Lab! Our instructors, Peter Norvig and Katie Malone, will also provide input. Together this distinguished group of educators, researchers, and data scientists will select the first, second, and third place teams in the competition, who will be awarded prizes of USD 100K, RMB 50K, and RMB 20K respectively. We are also more motivated by the chance for students to showcase their skills and be in demand for job opportunities that await as well.

Sebastian Thrun at Didi Chuxing headquarters, with Didi’s CTO, Zhang Bo, and Chief Scientist, He Xiaofei.

Machine learning technology is helping visionary companies like Didi scale globally in ways we couldn’t possibly have imagined just a few years ago. Our Machine Learning and Data Analyst Nanodegree program students are certainly up for the challenge! In fact, students enrolled in our Machine Learning Nanodegree program will be able to use the Didi competition data set as a part of the projects they are building, and receive feedback from us, getting them even closer to winning the $100K grand prize.



So, who’s going to enter the competition? Because the future has arrived, and you’re in the driver’s seat!

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Machine Learning Nanodegree program

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