Taxi out, now either taxi or ride-hailing. In the era of only taxis, because the taxis in the same city are basically the same brand and the same model, it is relatively uniform. In the era of online car-hailing, private cars can also be used to take orders, at this time, the brand, model and even size of the car have become different.
At the craziest time of online car-hailing, at the same price, you may call a Ferrari, or you may come to a Wuling Hongguang. Although in the end, you can be safely transported to your destination, but the experience in the middle is really too bad.
How to do the travel thing well, the box car has their own ideas.
First, online ride-hailing can also do this
On December 15, the box car brand launch conference was held in Beijing. Box Car is a supplier focusing on the B-end, specializing in providing vehicles for B-end users, and has released two models of box BM-400 and box BM-600.
Of the two models, the BM-400 is mainly in the car, ride-hailing and taxi markets, and is scheduled to achieve mass production in 2023.
The BM-600 targets the mid-to-high-end rental market to meet the demand for high-quality travel and is expected to be mass-produced and launched in 2024.
The most special thing about these two models is that they have made great innovations and changes for business travel, which are very different from the previous online ride-hailing cars.
The appearance of the Zhixing box BM-400 is simple, the overall use of square shape, the front and rear suspension are greatly shortened, the wheelbase is elongated, the wheels are almost placed in the four corners of the vehicle, the front cabin is almost nothing, there is no trunk, so the whole car looks very much like a square "box".
The front and rear light groups, windows, mirrors, etc. of the vehicle are designed with square elements, and a display screen is set up on the front face and tail, which can display different patterns and information.
The new car length of the Chi Heng Box BM-400 is 4530mm, the wheelbase is 2850mm, and the positioning is compact MPV. After shortening the front and rear overhangs and nearly eliminating the front cabin and trunk, the interior of the car became very spacious. However, in the interior space, the new car has a different design.
The general MPV is a 233 or 223 seat layout, but in the ride-hailing car, the use of the co-driver's seat is actually very low, and the passengers have higher requirements for the rear seat. In this case, the co-pilot seat of the BM-400 was simply removed and replaced by an "L-shaped" seat layout with a "1+1+3" seat distribution. As a result, the second and third rows of space become very open.
The single seat in the third row is officially called the "King Seat", which supports a maximum elevation angle of 30 °, and the business seat is equipped with leg rests, and the space and comfort are all gone.
Originally, the seat space behind the co-driver and the co-driver was more, and this part became the mobile intelligent space carrier of the box car, bringing more comfort to the passengers and creating more income for the driver. First of all, with this space, large luggage, wheelchairs and even pets can be boarded by drivers and passengers. If the driver needs to rest, this space can be set up with a bed for the driver to take a nap.
If you consider generating income, you can install vending machines on the car, provide hot and cold drinks, snacks, rain ponchos and other immediate demand products according to the season, and even provide services such as seat massage, car KTV, and somatosensory games. Coupled with a variety of ways such as advertising implantation and streaming media information push inside and outside the car, it will open up a more flexible profit model for the operation end.
The BM-600 is similar in configuration to the BM-400, except that its wheelbase reaches 3100mm, the body is longer, and the interior space is larger. As a model that focuses on the mid-to-high-end rental market, the rear seats in the second row have been re-added. Both models are purely electric driven, with a cruising range of 420km and 530km respectively.
Second, to achieve the ultimate in online ride-hailing, it is not only box cars
In fact, the upgrade of online car-hailing, in addition to box cars, other manufacturers have long been involved, the most typical is Didi. At the end of last year, BYD and Didi jointly released the BYD D1, which was born for online ride-hailing. As soon as this car was released, it attracted a lot of attention, and even many people especially wanted to buy it. However, this model is not priced and sold publicly, but is operated for drivers and ride-hailing passengers.
As a custom ride-hailing car, the D1 has many designs specifically built for ride-hailing.
For example, the most popular is its automatic door. People who have called the car know that because the cars are all from the right side of the car, but the rear passengers often have to be very careful when opening the door because they do not have rearview mirrors, because when you open the door, there are likely to be electric vehicles and bicycles in the back, which is very dangerous. The BYD D1 has installed an electric door on the right side of the rear, in addition to not having to open the door manually, there is no need to worry about the safety of the car door.
In addition to this, the opening and closing of this door, the driver can also be controlled. Such an advantage is that if you call a D1 ride-hailing car, when you walk past, the driver can open the door in advance, and the passengers can get on the bus directly, without having to do it themselves, especially advanced and ritualistic.
THE BYD D1 is positioned as a compact MPV, with a length of 4.6 meters and a wheelbase of 2.8 meters, as a 5-seater car, the rear space is still relatively abundant. 1 meter 8 tall, sitting in it can also be relatively free to stilt erlang legs.
Behind the front seats, there are also 3 intimate small designs for the rear passengers, from left to right, cup holders, tissue boxes, and two USB interfaces, which are basically high-ended in the online ride-hailing car.
In addition to achieving the ultimate experience in terms of passengers, D1 has also made a lot of efforts in the driver's experience. Usually, the online ride-hailing drivers we see will put several mobile phones around the center console for operations such as grabbing orders. However, in the process of driving, such operations often have certain dangers. BYD D1 sets a didi key on the steering wheel, which can achieve tasks such as receiving orders and settlement.
This button is linked with the central control screen, the driver can view the relevant information from the central control screen, and then use this special button to operate, so that the driver's attention can be less distracted.
Although from the perspective of product positioning, box cars are oriented to business and high-end travel, and BYD D1 is facing the general public, the audience groups of the two do not seem to overlap. But they have invariably made huge changes in the user experience of ride-hailing.
Do you think that such a change will have a big improvement on user travel? Will there really be a market?