Can You Pre-Book DiDi in Australia? Not Yet — Here’s What to Do

Short answer: no. DiDi does not currently offer a pre-booking or scheduled-ride feature in Australia. DiDi’s own help centre confirms it: “Currently, we don’t have the option to pre-book trips. But don’t worry, we’ll let you know as soon as it becomes available!” Every DiDi ride in Australia is requested on demand, for right now, not for a future date or time.

That is not ideal if you need a guaranteed pickup for an early-morning flight or an important appointment. Below is what actually works instead, based on what is genuinely available in Australia today.

TL;DR

• DiDi cannot be pre-booked in Australia – confirmed directly on DiDi’s official help centre, no scheduled-ride option exists in the app.
• Uber Reserve is the real alternative – book 30 minutes to 90 days ahead, available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, the Gold Coast, Cairns and Geelong.
• For flights, a licensed taxi booking is the most established option – taxi companies in every Australian capital have supported phone and app pre-booking for years.
• If your pickup time is flexible, just open DiDi when you are ready – most Australian capital cities see DiDi pickup times of a few minutes, even early morning.

What DiDi actually says about pre-booking

DiDi Australia’s help centre article “Can I pre-book a trip?” is unambiguous: pre-booking is not currently supported, and DiDi says it will notify users if that changes. The app only supports requesting a ride for immediate pickup – you open the app, enter your destination, and DiDi matches you with the nearest available driver. There is no calendar, no “schedule for later” button, and no way to lock in a driver for a future time.

This is worth stating clearly because a number of guides online (including an earlier version of this page) describe a DiDi “schedule” or “book later” feature with booking windows, scheduling fees and cancellation tiers. That feature does not exist for DiDi in Australia. If you have seen instructions like that, they are either outdated, describe DiDi’s service in a different country, or were never accurate to begin with.

What to do instead

Option 1: Use Uber Reserve if you need a guaranteed time

Uber Reserve is the closest real equivalent to what people are usually looking for when they search for a pre-bookable ride. You can lock in a ride from 30 minutes up to 90 days in advance, the app shows you the upfront price when you book (so no surge surprises later), and you are told which driver is assigned ahead of time. Your driver will wait up to 15 minutes after the scheduled pickup time at no extra charge, and you can cancel for free up to an hour before pickup.

Reserve is available at all major Australian airports and in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and metropolitan Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Cairns and Geelong. To book, open the Uber app, tap the Reserve option, and choose your pickup time – for best results, book more than 90 minutes before you actually need to leave. See our Uber fare calculator guide for how Reserve pricing compares with a standard on-demand Uber.

Option 2: Book a licensed taxi in advance

Traditional taxi companies in every Australian capital city (13cabs, Silver Service and the local operator in each state) have supported phone and app pre-booking for years, and this remains the most established way to guarantee a car at a specific time – particularly useful for very early flights (before 4-5am) when both DiDi and Uber driver availability is at its lowest. Taxi pre-booking usually carries a small booking fee on top of the metered fare.

Option 3: Just request DiDi when you are ready to leave

If your pickup time has some flexibility, the simplest fix is to skip pre-booking altogether. In Australia’s capital cities, DiDi pickup times are typically a few minutes even outside peak hours, so opening the app 5-10 minutes before you need to go is usually enough. This will not work for a hard deadline like a 5am flight, where driver supply is thinnest – for that, Uber Reserve or a pre-booked taxi is the safer choice.

DiDi vs Uber Reserve vs taxi: which can you actually pre-book?

Planning an early-morning airport pickup?

This is the most common reason people search for DiDi pre-booking, so it deserves a direct answer: for a flight before about 5am, do not rely on DiDi. Book Uber Reserve or a licensed taxi the night before instead, since on-demand driver numbers for both DiDi and Uber are at their lowest in the very early hours. For flights later in the morning (after 6-7am), on-demand DiDi or Uber is usually reliable enough if you check the app’s estimated pickup time before you need to leave. See our Sydney Airport parking and transport guide for more on getting to the airport.

Frequently asked questions