In the future of shared cars, self-driving is a good medicine

The first time I learned that bike sharing was in Shenzhen in the summer of 2016, a row of orange bodies shone with youth in the sun. Industrial expansion is as fierce as the summer sun. In only half a year, blue, yellow and green bikes of various colors have occupied the streets of Shenzhen. The pain points of users, such as expensive taxis, slow walking, and inflexible public transportation, are gradually resolved by various shared bicycles on the street.

 

Sharing bicycles detonated the sharing economy. Almost overnight, sharing models such as sharing umbrellas and sharing charging treasures sprang up like mushrooms. Under the catalytic effect of the sharing economy, shared cars have gradually entered the public's field of vision and changed the way people use cars. More and more companies have begun to use the shared car as a basis for the layout of travel areas. Even auto giants like Toyota have announced that they will transform from an auto company into a mobile mobility company, and cooperate with companies such as Didi Chuxing, Amazon and Uber.

 

China's three major automakers, FAW, Dongfeng and Chang'an, have also joined forces to enter the shared mobility field and will form a joint venture to establish a T3 mobility service company.

 

 

 

In addition to traditional car companies, Internet companies and traditional car rental companies have also set up shared travel areas. According to industry insiders, there are more than 400 domestic companies registered as shared cars.

 

/ Car sharing boom /

 

When the heat of shared bicycles receded, the baton reached the hands of shared vehicles. According to a report released by the China E-Commerce Research Center, in 2017, shared cars received a total financing amount of 76.459 billion yuan, becoming the industry with the highest investment amount in the field of sharing economy. This data shows that shared cars are gradually replacing shared bikes as a hot spot for capital pursuit.

 

The emergence of this hotspot has catered to the pain points of most users' difficulties in getting a taxi and buying expensive cars.

 

On the one hand, huge car ownership has caused urban road congestion, waiting for taxis and parking. According to statistics, the current car ownership in my country has exceeded 200 million, and the car ownership in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has exceeded 2 million, of which Beijing ranks first with 5.64 million vehicles. The huge traffic flow makes the city's roads and parking spaces a scarce resource. It is difficult to get stuck on the roads during holidays, and it is difficult to find a parking spot on the weekend.

 

 

 

On the other hand, the rising cost of car maintenance in cities has weakened most people's desire to buy cars and even made most people unable to afford cars. According to the data of my country National Gold Research and Development Co., Ltd., as of 2017, the number of Chinese driver license holders has reached 340 million, while the number of private cars is only 187 million, and nearly 160 million people are waiting to drive with certificates. Policies such as buying a car to shake the number and limiting the number of lines for single and double numbers have further increased the number of people without a license.

 

The emergence of shared cars has solved the pain points of the above users. Without increasing the number of car purchases in the market, shared cars provide convenience for people to travel, alleviate the pressure of resources such as roads and parking spaces, meet people's travel needs of "only buy and not maintain", and reduce travel costs.

 

In addition to user needs, the promotion of policies is also a major positive factor for the sustainable development of shared cars.

 

The huge market demand and policy promotion have made shared cars a blue ocean of vitality, which naturally attracted a number of enterprises and capital to enter the market. According to the release of the "Analysis and Forecasting Report of China's Car-sharing Travel Market in 2018", the direct demand for car-sharing travel in China will increase rapidly from 8.16 million times per day in 2015 to 37 million times per day in 2018, and the corresponding market capacity is expected to increase from 660 RMB 100 million/year will increase to RMB 380 billion/year, and the potential market capacity brought by potential demand is expected to reach RMB 1.8 trillion.

 

/ Unresolved profit issues /

 

Although the shared car market is supported by national policies and market demand, how to achieve profitability has been an unsolved issue for industry players.

 

Muggle travels that have been on the market for less than a year have announced that they will officially cease service on May 20 and declare bankruptcy;

 

Known as a "global initiative", the Paris shared electric car AUTOLIB officially announced the suspension of operations on June 21 local time due to long-term losses;

 

Earlier, EZZY operating in Beijing under the BMW i3+ membership fee model was officially disbanded in 2017;

 

Of course, the outgoing companies are far more than the above.

 

Just like bike sharing, what car sharing lacks is a stable and clear profit model, especially under the asset-heavy model of self-purchased vehicles for operation. Any business model must be supported by profits behind it. For companies to continue to develop, positive cash flow is essential. At present, it is difficult for shared cars to achieve profit in the short term by rent, and the unprofitability is the biggest obstacle to the development of an enterprise. At present, car sharing players have not yet figured out a true profit model.

 

Leaving aside the issue of national quality, there are still many problems to be solved in car sharing. For example, the problem of taking the car back and forth, is it to be returned on loan or at a fixed point? Another example is the parking problem, whether to use existing parking spaces, or self-built parking spaces? How to solve the parking fee? How to solve the charging problem? These issues are not only related to user experience, but also to the survival of the enterprise.

 

/ Self-driving is the destination? /

 

On the one hand, car sharing is an attractive industry prospect, not only catering to user needs but also favorable policy support; on the other hand, the sword of Damocles overhead, I do not know when it will fall.

 

How to remove the "sword" above the head, some insiders gave their own answer, that is, autonomous driving.

 

For example, autonomous driving changes the usage scene from "people looking for cars" to "cars looking for people". The user makes an appointment online, and the vehicle will automatically drive to the designated location to wait for the customer; after the vehicle is used, the vehicle will automatically travel to the parking location, truly realizing borrowing and returning without waiting.

 

Autonomous driving can also reduce business operating costs and improve business operating efficiency. Enterprises can use automatic driving technology to realize the automatic dispatch of fleets to serve areas where users have high travel needs; vehicles can also perform power detection and find charging piles for charging.

 

 

 

Autonomous driving is not a utopian fantasy. Some domestic companies have completed the test of driverless shared cars. Cars and announced the official launch of the "Autonomous Driving Demonstration Park" in the Liangjiang New District of Chongqing. Six self-driving shared cars will be piloted in the demonstration park for a month. Users can realize the transformation from "people looking for cars" to "cars looking for people" through the mobile APP.

 

 

 

Autonomous driving will lead shared cars out of the current predicament. I believe that under the support of driverless cars, shared cars in the future will greatly facilitate our lives and start a new era.

 

/ Also do car sharing? /

 

It has always been committed to providing products and services with good user experience to global customers. In the field of shared cars, Suo Ling has developed a time-sharing leasing platform with the strength of more than 20 years of deep plowing in the industry and using big data development technology to help enterprises Improve the quality of operational services and bring users a convenient car experience.

 

The time-sharing leasing platform is composed of in-vehicle terminals, leasing business centers, operation management platforms, IoV data centers, mobile APP applications, and third-party payment services. It fully implements customer-on-demand, full-service self-service, and also makes users in the park. Renting a car for commuting, daily trips in the city, or short trips around the city is more convenient to use. Users only need to download the APP registration account to start the car rental service. Suo Ling also added a variety of functions such as map query, car navigation, vehicle status check, mileage and power query, and parking space search in the APP, which fully meets the user's driving needs and has no worries.

 

 

 

On the enterprise side, the platform not only has integrated fleet management, but also real-time control of operation scheduling, operation planning, driver management, trip record management, etc.; on the operation management platform, Soling also set up customer relationship management in a targeted manner to manage customers on a point system. Use various kinds of activities tools, reminders, information and other news to increase the user's activity and viscosity, and finally use our CRM system to help companies analyze the user's hobbies and behaviors and maximize the company's familiarity with your customers. Customers provide "just right" demand services to increase user satisfaction.

 

 

 

Whether it is Internet of Vehicles, unmanned driving or time-sharing rental, we will provide you with professional personalized driving services with the most cutting-edge technical strength, opening a new era of smart travel in the future.