Industry丨Didi raises $300 million, Robotaxi becomes a new script for online car-hailing
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Recently, Didi Autonomous Driving announced that it had successfully completed its Series C financing, raising $298 million. The financing was led by GAC Group, and Didi Chuxing also participated.
The funds raised will be used to further enhance the research and development of autonomous driving technology to promote the early realization of the first Robotaxi mass production model.
Since its independence in 2019, Didi has undergone many changes in its travel-related businesses, but has continued to invest in the field of autonomous driving and achieved remarkable results. It has completed five rounds of financing to date, raising a total of more than US$1.5 billion.
In 2021, GAC Group participated in Didi Autonomous Driving's strategic financing of more than US$300 million as a strategic investor.
In the same year, Didi Autonomous Driving signed a strategic cooperation agreement with GAC Aion.
In April 2024, Didi Autonomous Driving and GAC Aion's joint venture company, Andi Technology, officially obtained a business license and plans to launch its first mass-produced L4-level model in 2025. The project is called the [AIDI Plan].
At the same time, Didi Autonomous Driving has cooperated with GAC Aion to establish a joint venture [Andi Technology], combining the advantages of [platform + OEM] and is committed to building an L4-level unmanned crossover SUV.
In October 2023, GAC Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary GAC Capital, and Guangzhou Development Zone Investment Group jointly invested to establish a special fund of no more than US$155 million, providing Didi Autonomous Driving Company with an investment of no more than US$149 million.
Didi has entered the field of autonomous driving since 2016
Didi Chuxing is one of the first online ride-hailing service platforms to deploy in the field of autonomous driving technology.
Since 2016, Didi has started the research, development and testing of autonomous driving technology.
By 2019, Didi Chuxing separated its autonomous driving division to carry out independent operations and financing activities.
At that time, there were rumors in the market that this move was to speed up the listing process and thus split off the autonomous driving business which was still in the investment stage.
In terms of deployment in actual application scenarios, Didi Chuxing's autonomous driving technology has been deployed in two major areas: freight and autonomous taxis (Robotaxi).
According to the latest data officially released by Didi Autonomous Driving, its team size has now exceeded 900 people, and it has deployed more than 200 autonomous driving vehicles in multiple cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Since June 2020, Didi Autonomous Driving has launched manned testing services to the public in Shanghai, and has been operating safely for more than 1,500 consecutive days.
In the operating areas of Shanghai and Guangzhou, Didi's autonomous driving has achieved mixed dispatching.
In the freight industry, KargoBot, an autonomous driving company incubated by Didi Chuxing, is committed to achieving a closed loop of large-scale application and commercial operation of unmanned freight technology.
As of July this year, Carl Power has announced that its L4 autonomous driving bulk commodity transportation volume has exceeded 50 million ton-kilometers, and the total mileage of its convoy autonomous driving demonstration operations has exceeded 8 million kilometers.
In addition, Didi Chuxing plans to operate in 11 cities by 2025.
Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Chuxing, once said that by 2025, the popularity of shared cars on the Didi platform is expected to exceed 1 million units, and the iterative versions of new models will be equipped with Didi's self-developed unmanned driving system.
By 2030, Didi's customized vehicles are expected to achieve fully autonomous driving.
Didi’s advantage lies in its huge user base
Even the market leader, Caroline, has only about 2,000 vehicles deployed nationwide, while Pony.ai and Ruqi Mobility have only a few hundred vehicles deployed.
Didi's development progress in the field of autonomous driving is relatively slow, which is mainly attributed to the differences in their operating models.
Didi focuses more on platform operations and user services, and is committed to improving the efficiency and user experience of online car-hailing services;
Baidu, on the other hand, focuses more on technology research and development, and has invested a lot of resources to promote technological progress.
Among the many domestic travel platforms, Didi Chuxing's core advantage is not limited to capital, but also its huge user base. As of the end of March 2023, Didi's annual active users in China have reached 411 million.
According to the second quarter 2024 financial report released by Didi Chuxing, the transaction volume of the core platform, including China travel and international business, reached 3.875 billion orders during the quarter, of which the total number of China travel orders was 3.004 billion orders, and the average daily transaction volume was as high as 33 million orders.
Competition is bound to be more intense in a market lacking a dominant player
Unlike the oligopolistic structure that has emerged in the online car-hailing market, Robotaxi, as an emerging industry, has not yet produced a clear market leader.
Robotaxi companies will face off directly against each other, and price, vehicle size, technology level and service quality will all become key factors in the competition.
Robotaxi's core competitive advantages are mainly reflected in the following two aspects.
①Price, as the most sensitive factor for consumers, is undoubtedly the primary condition for attracting customers.
As shown by the competition among online ride-hailing platforms, price war is the key area of contention, and Luobo Kuaipao, which is backed by Baidu Group, has a clear advantage in this regard.
Therefore, companies such as Pony.ai and WeRide must also speed up their pace of listing and financing to ensure that they have sufficient funds to participate in this competition.
② The scale of vehicle deployment is key. Currently, the number of Robotaxi vehicles deployed is generally limited, causing passengers to wait for a long time.
According to Lei Technology's actual testing, whether it is LuoBoKuaiPao or WeRide, the waiting time for passengers is more than 10 minutes.
Not all passengers are willing to endure long waits just to save a little money, so quickly expanding the scale of vehicle deployment is key to ensuring user experience.
However, increasing the number of vehicles also requires a lot of capital, and it is expected that many Robotaxi companies will be acquired due to lack of funds.
Ending:
Automakers provide products, autonomous driving technology companies provide innovative technologies, and ride-hailing companies provide service platforms. This cooperative model allows them to jointly expand the market and share the results. This may be the most stable development path in the Robotaxi field.
At present, competition in the Robotaxi industry is mainly concentrated between autonomous driving technology companies and online ride-hailing platforms.
Some references: Geek Park: "Didi Autonomous Driving Raised $300 Million, Uber and Lyft Soared, and Online Car-hailing Has a New Story", Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily: "GAC Intelligent Driving Flags Another Move! $300 Million Increased Investment in Didi Autonomous Driving", Smart Car Reference: "The Strongest Online Car-hailing Factory Invested Again in Didi Autonomous Driving: 2.1 Billion, Only for Robotaxi", Electric Car Communication: "Who Will Have the Last Laugh among the Three Chinese [Romantic Man] Brothers?", Zhengjingshe: "Didi Challenges Baidu, Tesla Comes Out, and Autonomous Driving Suddenly Enters the Warring States Period", 21st Century Business Review: "Warm Winds Blow Frequently, Autonomous Driving Taxis Accelerate", Industrial Automobile Network: "[Marriage] Didi, GAC Pays the Bill"
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