Amap’s Ride-Hailing Hits 1,000 Cities Amid Security Warnings

Amap has switched on Chinese-language ride-hailing in more than 1,000 cities outside China, partnering with tourism authorities in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Austria and France. The Alibaba-backed mapping app now lets users book taxis, airport transfers and chartered cars entirely in Mandarin, with real-time translation and Alipay or WeChat Pay built into every ride.

The rollout landed weeks after Taiwan’s security services branded the same app a national security risk, citing the location and device data behind its convenience.

Booking a Ride Now Works Entirely in Mandarin

Li Xinhua, general manager of Amap’s ride-hailing business, told China Daily that ordering a car overseas has traditionally meant downloading an unfamiliar local app. Travelers also had to muddle through a foreign language and figure out an unfamiliar payment system every time they landed somewhere new.

“Our goal is to make travel feel as seamless abroad as it does at home,” Li said.

Instead of juggling a different app for every country, the Chinese-language service now bundles several pieces into one screen:

• Real-time in-app translation for conversations with the driver
• Payment through Alipay or WeChat Pay
• Round-the-clock Chinese-language customer support
• Summer promotions including taxi rides starting from $1 and discounted airport transfers

The pricing push is timed to the summer travel season, when outbound demand from China typically peaks. Amap paired the launch with chartered-vehicle discounts meant to pull first-time users into the app before they even land.

Tourism Boards Bet on China’s Rebound

Lee Thai Hung, deputy director-general of the Tourism Malaysia Promotion Board, said Chinese visitors can now book rides in Malaysia using their own language, without installing another app. That removes the language barrier and the payment barrier in the same step.

The bet lines up with where China’s outbound travel is heading. Chinese outbound trips reached 130 million in 2024, recovering to about 85% of the pre-pandemic peak, according to Future Market Insights and the China Tourism Academy.

• 130 million outbound trips left China in 2024, about 85% of the 2019 peak.
• $183.8 billion is the projected size of China’s outbound travel market this year, on pace for $459.4 billion by 2036.
• 50-plus countries now sit inside China’s expanded visa-free travel network as of early 2026.

For a tourism board, the calculation is simple. A traveler who can hail a ride the moment they clear customs is a traveler more likely to spend money, and more likely to come back.

The Same Data Trail Taiwan Calls a Threat

Weeks before Amap’s overseas ride-hailing reached 1,000 cities, Taiwan’s government was warning its own citizens away from the app. The Ministry of Digital Affairs banned Amap from government devices in April, citing the Cybersecurity Management Act, after an earlier review had already named Amap alongside three other Chinese apps as high risk for how they moved user data.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB), the island’s top intelligence agency, went further in May. Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told lawmakers that an internal analysis had flagged nine of 15 cybersecurity indicators, including data still moving to Chinese servers after the app is closed.

Data that are seemingly risk-free could be turned into a strategic asset China uses against Taiwan.

Alice Yang, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, wrote the warning in an institute analysis of Amap’s data collection practices.

What we know:

• Taiwan banned Amap from government agency devices in April 2026 under the Cybersecurity Management Act.
• The NSB’s May review found the app collecting contacts, call records, audio and video data, and sending it to China even after the app closes.

What’s unconfirmed:

• Whether the Ministry of Digital Affairs has published the public risk assessment it promised for June 2026.
• Whether the findings apply to the standalone overseas ride-hailing product tourists use, separate from Amap’s core navigation app.

None of the tourism authorities that signed on with Amap this month have addressed the Taiwan findings publicly.

A Fourteen-Month Climb to 1,000 Cities

The global push did not start with tourists. Amap’s ride-hailing aggregation began inside China, then flipped direction to follow Chinese travelers out of the country.

Each step reused the same playbook. Amap does not run its own fleet of drivers anywhere. Inside China, it aggregates rides from third-party platforms, and the overseas product appears to lean on the same model, plugging into local taxi and car-hire operators city by city.

Didi, Uber and the Legal Gray Zones Still Ahead

Amap is not the first Chinese platform to chase travelers abroad. Didi Chuxing launched an English-language overseas service in 2017, eight years ahead of Amap’s Chinese-language push, and now operates in more than 10 international markets including Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Amap is stepping into a ride-hailing market Grand View Research values at $47.6 billion worldwide in 2025. The same research firm counts data privacy and cybersecurity exposure among the ride-hailing industry’s biggest growth restraints industrywide.

The legal terrain is not settled either. In Hong Kong, private drivers still cannot legally accept paid passengers without a hire-car permit, and Amap operates there without a dedicated ride-hailing framework, the same regulatory limbo Uber and Didi are navigating in the territory.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has not published the risk assessment it promised for June. Amap’s overseas footprint crossed 1,000 cities anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Amap’s Overseas Fares Change with the Exchange Rate?

Yes. Fares settle through Alipay or WeChat Pay at the prevailing exchange rate on top of the summer promotion, which starts overseas taxi rides at $1 and discounts airport transfers and chartered vehicles through the peak travel season.

Does Taiwan’s Ban Cover Ordinary Travelers, Too?

Not yet. The current prohibition applies only to government agency devices under the Cybersecurity Management Act. Officials have urged the public to avoid the app voluntarily, but no consumer-wide restriction is in place while the Ministry of Digital Affairs finishes its own risk assessment.

Which Cities Had Amap Ride-Hailing Before This Expansion?

Before the 1,000-city milestone, Amap’s ride-hailing had already reached Hong Kong, South Korea and several Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kyoto. That built on a broader 2025 expansion to more than 26 countries across Asia and Europe.

Is Amap the Only Chinese Ride-Hailing App Operating Abroad?

No. Didi Chuxing has run an English-language overseas service since 2017 and covers more than 10 international markets. That service targets foreign riders using English, a different audience than Amap’s new Chinese-language product for outbound Chinese tourists.