An internal letter seen by Sina from Ye Jieping, vice president of Didi Chuxing and head of the ride-hailing company’s future-facing AI Labs, revealed his intention to leave the company for personal reasons, thanking Didi for “the most fruitful five years“ of his career, and saying he expected to continue his AI work in “other fields.“

A tenured professor at the University of Michigan, Ye joined Didi in 2015, enhancing key functions including passenger pick-up and payment processing. When he arrived, order matching was problematic and left millions of vehicles underutilised at low points.

Ye Jieping’s AI Labs team led research into machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition and computer vision. In 2017, Ye introduced the use of heat maps to let drivers know of upcoming busy periods in different locations.

After Ye’s resignation, AI Labs will come under the responsibility of Didi CTO Zhang Bo, with chief scientist Tang Jian deputizing. Reports suggest that AI Labs has been internally rebranded as AI Tech.

A number of executives have left Didi in the past six months, including Vice President Qie Xiaohu, Didi International COO Qiu Guangyu, Senior Vice President Fu Junhua, and Zhang Zhang, general manager of the map division, among other executives.

Contact editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)

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