Didi is building a car! It wants to start a new war

Didi is making cars. These days, both ordinary "workers" and people in the automotive industry have set their sights on Didi D1. From the establishment of the Torrent Alliance in 2018 to now, Didi has finally borrowed BYD's mature pure electric platform, injected all its knowledge of online car-hailing into this product, and created the world's first dedicated online car-hailing model Didi D1.

1. Didi D1, a truly exclusive online car-hailing service

Didi D1 has very obvious online car-hailing attributes, and in order to achieve these attributes, Didi conducted 10,000 interviews and surveys, from drivers to customers, all the little bits and pieces came together to create Didi D1's completely different product strength.

As an MPV positioned in the A-class, Didi has a wheelbase of 2800mm with an axle length ratio of up to 63.8%, which is the level of a B-class car. In terms of interior space, Didi D1 has a rear legroom of up to 1000mm and a headroom of 992mm, which is basically the level of a C-class car. A series of interior and exterior configurations, such as the right electric sliding door, standard electric lumbar support, a single-sided elbow support and a harder driver-only seat, and a softer and more comfortable rear passenger seat, reflect better care for passengers and drivers.

In terms of car networking, Didi D1 is equipped with the DIIA car system. The car system integrates the Didi driver terminal, and with a 10.1-inch large screen and intelligent voice interaction, it realizes eight exclusive functions such as intelligent dispatching, intelligent charging, intelligent maintenance, and non-contact facial recognition. In order to solve the driver's mileage anxiety, when the Didi D1 vehicle has 20% remaining power, the car system will actively recommend nearby charging stations and navigate with one click to reduce the driver's range anxiety. In terms of driving assistance, Didi D1 can realize safety functions such as automatic emergency braking AEB and lane departure warning system LDWs, basically reaching the functions of L2 driving assistance system.

In 2025, Didi will launch the D3 with autonomous driving function, and by 2030, it hopes to remove the cockpit and achieve complete unmanned driving. This is Didi's ambition in the field of unmanned driving. In other words, Didi will achieve L4 unmanned driving in 2025, and by 2030, it should reach L5 level unmanned driving technology. 2020 is about to pass, which means that in about 4 years, Didi will achieve L4 level unmanned driving. Can it be achieved? If it is to achieve L4 level unmanned driving in all scenarios, the author thinks Didi is a little too confident. But if it is to achieve L4 in limited scenarios, then Didi is still very confident. Judging from the next generation SPA II model launched by Volvo, L4 in highway environment will be achieved.

As for the passenger side, not only can the air conditioning and seat heating in the car be set in advance through the Didi APP, but the car also provides a screen and corresponding entertainment and audio-visual interior. The six-color pick-up light on the front of the car is a highlight of Didi D1, which effectively solves the pain points of passengers in the process of finding a car.

2. BYD won Didi’s first order with its blade battery

BYD can be said to be Didi's "accomplice" in entering the car manufacturing field. However, being able to do OEM for Didi is also a good job for BYD. After all, BYD has just signed an agreement with Toyota, and Toyota will launch pure electric models based on BYD's e platform in the future. Now that this platform is shared with Didi, the cost of platform research and development and component molds can be diluted through greater production capacity.

Another thing that must be mentioned is that Didi D1 did not choose the ternary lithium battery with higher energy density. BYD's blade battery with higher safety factor was favored by Didi. In fact, taking BYD Han as a reference, its cruising range can reach 600 kilometers. Therefore, as long as the SOC estimation of the whole vehicle is accurate and the public charging facilities near the vehicle can be timely understood and integrated, for models like Didi D1, there is no need to worry about running out of power halfway through the journey. The relevant planning and configuration have also been reflected in Didi D1. The safety performance of the blade battery is currently unmatched by the ternary lithium battery. In fact, the biggest difficulties faced by domestic new forces in car manufacturing are caused by the fire of ternary lithium batteries. Whether it is a collision or a product quality problem, due to the characteristics of the ternary lithium battery itself, once there is a sign of fire, it will quickly lead to a fire. For Didi, the same fire can destroy the reputation of the entire D1, and there is no need to take this risk.

3. Didi is changing the domestic automobile market

For Didi drivers, they no longer need to buy vehicles in the future. Instead, they can rent D1 or even drive for Didi every day like taxi drivers and earn the difference in mileage. This can greatly reduce the financial threshold for Didi drivers to enter the online car-hailing industry. But for OEMs, this is probably not good news. Mobile travel has always been an important part of the new four modernizations of OEMs: in the short term, it can increase sales and open up a new sales channel for OEMs as the domestic market becomes increasingly saturated; in the long run, the higher profit margin of mobile travel business will help companies achieve greater returns than vehicle manufacturing and sales. More importantly, today's young consumers may have made significant changes in their car ownership patterns compared to the previous generation. If Didi enters the field of online car-hailing manufacturing, it can use various methods to encourage Didi drivers to switch to using Didi's own brand cars. With Didi occupying 1/3 of the domestic online car-hailing traffic, it can give birth to a huge market behind it, and this market may no longer be accessible to OEMs. Or it can only be reduced to OEM for Didi like BYD. This practice not only makes the profits of the OEMs relatively meager, but is also not necessarily a good thing for the brand. Over time, it will inevitably cause certain damage to the brand itself.

Who can control the future mobile market? At present, Didi has a relatively large initiative. After all, the usage habits cultivated by users are difficult to change in a short period of time. In order to gain greater appeal than Didi in online car-hailing, either Didi itself has made a fatal mistake, or it has subsidized consumers more than Didi did in the past. After Didi continues to improve its safety measures, it is difficult for the former to have many previous vicious cases, while the latter's demand for funds may be tens of billions, and it is difficult for ordinary companies to invest so much money. This is also the biggest reason why Cao Cao and Xiangdao, two mobile travel brands supported by traditional OEMs, are difficult to form a voice to compete with Didi. Faced with the huge market of mobile travel, billions may only splash a small wave, which is difficult for traditional OEMs to invest sustainably.

After BYD, perhaps in the next few years, there will be other brands in the Torrent Alliance that will produce models for Didi. Whether it is the domestic mobile travel sector or even domestic car sales, they are all waiting for the birth of the next change. After all, with the increasing saturation of road resources in first- and second-tier cities, policies can only impose more and more restrictions on fuel vehicles, and new energy vehicles, especially electric vehicles, have not been able to solve the problems surrounding batteries to this day. Instead of letting many consumers bear the various risks related to batteries, it is better for one company to operate them uniformly and pay for the taxi fare themselves, saving worry and effort.

With powerful Internet companies like Didi entering the automotive industry, perhaps the time has come for changes to the situation where automakers occupy the top of the industry chain!