A photo shows the chauffeured cars of "Shouqi Yueche", a government backed car service. [Photo: Xinhua]

Two state owned enterprises in Beijing, Shouqi Group and Xianglong Taxi Co have launched the city's first government authorized chauffeured car services, "Shouqi Yueche" on September 16.

The new model marks a departure from the previous model of taxi services, canceling the franchise fee and the drivers only work for 8 hours every day.

The cars can be pre-booked using a mobile app.

Liang Haichen, vice general manager of Shouqi Group, says the new car service is subsidized by the government. He also says that this new service is a proactive move to compete with popular private taxi-booking apps like Kuaidi-Didi and Uber.

The first batch of 500 chauffeur-driven cars are more comfortable than ordinary taxis with Wi-Fi, chargers for electronic equipment and passengers can even borrow an umbrella from the vehicle on rainy days.

As a result, the price is about twice as high when compared to traditional taxis.

They all have specific license plates in Beijing with a capital B. The drivers all hold licenses for driving taxis and the customers will be offered standard invoices.