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Last year Sony announced it would be entering Japans taxi-hailing arena, and according to its promises, the electronics giant has launched its S.Ride service in Tokyo.

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The service, first reported by CNET, is a joint venture between Sony, its payment services subsidiary and five licensed taxi companies. Since traveling in civilian cars is illegal in Japan, the service will focus on connecting licensed taxis with passengers. The electronics giant has previously used the use of AI to match supply and demand, supporting Uber-style cashless credit card as well as QR scans on the payment side.

All together, S.Ride claims to cover 10,000 licensed taxis in Tokyo. Its biggest competition is JapanTaxi, a startup from the taxi industry backed by Toyota that claims 50,000 vehicles across Japan as a whole. Other competitors include chat app Line, which has been offering taxi services for years, Uber, which has made striking deals with taxi operators, and Chinas Didi Chuxing, which has a joint venture with Uber investor SoftBank. Lyft has expressed interest in Japan, where investor Rakuten is a big name, but has yet to expand.