BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese ride-sharing platform Didi Chuxing (DiDi) officially launched a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Thursday, offering taxi-hailing services in the world's third largest taxi market.

The ride-matching service is expected to be rolled out this autumn in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and other major cities in Japan, according to a statement from the company.

Meanwhile, new customized roaming features will be added to the DiDi Greater China app, including real-time in-app Chinese-Japanese instant message translation and local Chinese language customer support.

Current DiDi users in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will be able to use their DiDi Greater China app to hail taxis in Japan.

DiDi Japan aims to support the Japanese taxi industry to capture new opportunities in anticipation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which is expected to attract many visitors, especially from China.

DiDi, a leading mobile transportation platform headquartered in Beijing, serves over 550 million users worldwide. It has expanded services in other overseas markets like Australia and Mexico.