Recently, as an important participant in the aggregation and ride-hailing model, Autonavi launched its self-operated online ride-hailing business "Rocket Travel" to attract a lot of attention. In response, Autonavi responded that Autonavi hailing adheres to the aggregation platform positioning, and Rocket Travel’s goal is to explore the next-generation online ride-hailing model. There are no other new city plans.
Autonavi pushes self-employment model online car-hailing "rocket travel", can it make money?
Recently, Autonavi’s self-operated online ride-hailing business has triggered discussions. On October 26, Autonavi’s self-operated capacity platform "Rocket Travel" appeared on the Autonavi map Beijing taxi platform.
The Beijing News shell financial reporter noticed that in the Autonavi map taxi section, "Rocket Travel" provides economical, premium, six-seat business, luxury and other car services.
According to Qichacha’s industrial and commercial information, the operating body of "Rocket Travel" is Beijing Litong Travel Technology Co., Ltd., which was registered in September 2021, and Autonavi Software Co., Ltd. is the sole shareholder.
Autonavi Map has personally gone off the market to do self-operated online car-hailing business or has also seen changes in the industry landscape. Since July 2021, the online car-hailing industry has undergone profound changes, and Meituan’s self-operated online car-hailing project "Meituan Taxi" has re-emerged.
At the same time, the online car industry capital competition once again up the ante, Cao Cao travel completed 3.80 billion yuan B round of financing, T3 travel completed 7.70 billion yuan A round of financing, easy to use the car plan "comeback".
However, it is not easy for the online car-hailing industry to make money. For a long time, the issue of the proportion of online car-hailing has attracted much attention. Since 2021, relevant ministries and commissions have repeatedly asked online car-hailing platforms to reduce the excessive proportion of the commission, set the upper limit of the commission, and announce it to the public.
In July this year, Wang Xiuchun, deputy director of the transportation service department of the Ministry of Transport, said that local transportation departments continue to promote the implementation of "Sunshine Action" by platform companies operating services in the local area. At present, the upper limit of the proportion announced by major platform companies is between 18% and 30%.
The net profit at this level is not high either. In May 2021, Didi Chuxing announced its revenue. In 2020, Didi’s online ride-hailing driver income accounted for 79.1% of the total amount payable by passengers. Of the remaining 20.9%, 10.9% were passenger subsidies, 6.9% were business operating costs (technology research and development, servers, security, customer service, manpower, offline operations, etc.) and taxes and payment fees, etc. 3.1% were net profits for the online ride-hailing business.
The net profit of most small and medium-sized ride-hailing platforms may not reach 3.1%. However, loss-making operations or low net profits are the product of a period of disorderly competition in ride-hailing.
Ding Daoshi, a veteran Internet observer, believes that the business model of online car-hailing is the same as that of shared bicycles. Autonavi’s self-operated online car-hailing will not aim to make profits in the early stage. It will strengthen investment and support, cultivate user habits, and gain market share. The right way is; there are trillions of market opportunities in the industry.
Giants enter the industry, and the aggregation model is highly competitive
In fact, before the launch of "Rocket Travel", Autonavi Maps was already a typical enterprise for aggregating taxi models. On October 28, a shell financial reporter from the Beijing News found that in addition to rocket travel, Autonavi Maps Beijing taxi service also links to platforms such as Feidi Taxi, Xinghui Travel, Beijing Taxi, Journey Easy, AA Travel, Sunshine Travel, Shenzhou Special Car, Cao Cao Travel, and Shouqi Car-hailing.
The aggregation model emerged and emerged around 2018. In September 2018, Hello announced its access to TikTok’s travel service and partnered with Shouqi’s ride-hailing business. In April 2019, Meituan Dache announced the launch of the "aggregation model". Subsequently, Didi Chuxing and navigation platforms such as Autonavi Maps also launched the aggregation model.
The aggregation platform has given new life to many traditional enterprises in the transportation industry with the advantages of traffic entry and complete ecological closed-loop. Since the beginning of this year, the "asset-light" aggregation model has also attracted more giants to join. In July this year, Huawei launched the aggregation taxi platform Petal Travel, and WeChat tested Tencent Travel.
The "aggregation model" has also attracted the attention of relevant ministries and commissions. In August this year, the Office of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference on the Coordinated Supervision of New Formats of Transportation conducted reminder interviews with 11 platform companies including Didi Chuxing and Autonavi, pointing out that some platforms have violated the legitimate rights and interests of employees and passengers, prominent illegal operations, and hidden safety and stability risks.
It mentioned that "the aggregation platform should ensure that the connected online car-hailing platform complies with relevant regulations, and urge the connected online car-hailing platform company to strengthen the management of vehicles and personnel. In the event of a safety incident, the aggregation platform company should fulfill its liability for advance compensation according to law, and work with the involved online car-hailing platform company to handle the accident."
How to balance aggregation business and self-operated business? Autonavi responded to the media by saying that Autonavi ride-hailing and Rocket Travel are two completely independent and different platforms, and Autonavi ride-hailing adheres to the aggregation platform positioning. Rocket Travel’s goal is to explore the next generation of online ride-hailing models and conduct technological innovation and trials in limited cities. At present, Rocket Travel has no other new city plans.
Chen Weicheng, Shell Financial Reporter, Beijing News
Editor, Song Yuting
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