As the number of people traveling increases year by year, the urban transportation environment will become more complex and diverse. The further development of autonomous driving technology will promote the great changes in the pattern of the automobile travel industry, and consumers choosing to travel with autonomous driving manned vehicles will become a new way of travel. Autonomous driving can not only alleviate traffic congestion and improve the efficiency of user travel, but also greatly improve the safety of user travel. The large-scale application based on new technologies and new models will also reduce more costs for the government and enterprises. From the perspective of the development of the industry, the empowerment of science and technology, and the feedback of the market, Yiou Think Tank believes that the development of autonomous driving manned scenarios has become an inevitable trend.
The cost advantage is obvious, and the value of the autonomous driving travel mode is revealed?
The essence of automatic driving is "computer instead of artificial", and the commercial value of the autonomous driving scenario is to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Through the development of autonomous driving technology, enterprises reduce their dependence on labor, so that labor costs are reduced and operational efficiency is increased.
Taking taxis as an example, the current life cycle cost of Chinese taxis is 1.54 yuan / km. Under the premise of realizing Robotaxi manufacturing and completely eliminating the driver cost, the total cost is about 0.83 yuan / km, which is 46.8% lower than the total life cycle cost of traditional taxis. In a fully driverless state, the cost of autonomous driving manned scenarios is much lower than the cost of traditional travel tools, and by removing drivers, companies can save nearly half of their costs on average every year.
(Note: The total cost of traditional taxis includes car purchase, maintenance, fuel, driver, etc., hardware costs and maintenance costs are additional costs incurred by using robotaxi; the whole life cycle: calculated based on the 600,000 km/6 scrap of the taxi in 2021; the driver cost is calculated at 8,000 yuan / month.) ）
In addition, the cost of a traditional taxi will increase with the driver's wage costs increasing year by year. The ultimate goal of Robotaxi is to achieve unmanned operation, and now that China has entered the stage of unmanned testing and commercial operation, the cost will also be reduced. The EO think tank expects Robotaxi costs to reach an inflection point between 2025 and 2027, after which costs less than manual taxis. For traditional taxi operators, driver salaries have become their biggest operating costs, and autonomous driving has effectively solved this pain point in replacing drivers.
After the commercialization is landed, the commercial value of the autonomous driving manned scene is higher?
In the early stage, autonomous driving companies can invest a lot of technology research and development and road testing at any cost to achieve commercial products. However, after the opening of the fee, the cost problem of the business model will be highlighted, coupled with the impact of commercialization, how fast and how far an autonomous driving manned scene company can go, and how thick the barriers are built, are closely related to whether the company's operation is healthy. The business value of an enterprise is related to the feasibility of the business model, the profitability of the enterprise and the operation management.
The opening of the commercialization process means that the autonomous driving technology and product experience have reached the time to be rigorously tested by consumers. Yiou Think Tank believes that compared with the technology research and development and road test stage, enterprises can more easily reach consumers in the commercial exploration stage. Enterprises interact with users through commercial exploration and testing such as formulating reasonable payment models, increasing publicity and promotion, and implementing landing plans, so as to improve business models, strengthen profitability and normalize operations, and make the autonomous driving manned scenario "rapid value-added".
On May 2, 2021, Baidu Apollo in Beijing Shougang Park officially opened commercial operations, becoming the first Robotaxi enterprise in China to operate for a fee. In 4 days, a total of 848 orders were made, with an average of 212 orders received per day, and a total of 1500 passengers were received. Subsequently, in November 2021, the Beijing Policy Pilot Zone approved Baidu and Xiaoma Zhixing to open commercial operation services.
Consumers are optimistic about taking Robotaxi and other self-driving manned scene travel tools, for example, consumers are more active in paying to take Baidu Apollo Robotaxi, nearly 80% of users are willing to pay for rides, and 91.2% of users are willing to recommend to others after paying to use. Users expect a better self-driving travel experience, and have higher expectations for Robotaxi's travel range and fleet size. User satisfaction and high expectations express the affirmation of the business model of enterprises in autonomous driving manned scenarios, thus prompting enterprises to improve business models, rapidly iterate products and provide better services.
With the opening of the commercial operation of the autonomous driving manned scenario, enterprises no longer only put research and development and testing in the first place, from technology, product experience to enterprise operation level, will be tested in the market competition, becoming a promising and profitable enterprise is the embodiment of its value. After the commercial operation, the autonomous driving manned scenario will enter a new stage.
When can China's manned scenes be commercialized on a large scale? What obstacles will you encounter during this period? What role will the demonstration area play in this? Based on the above questions, Yiou Think Tank will launch the "2021-2022 China Autonomous Driving Commercialization Series Research - Manned Scenes and Demonstration Area Chapters" in the near future.
The report takes the operator enterprises and demonstration areas of manned scenes as the core research objects, and deeply analyzes their development status and development trends by combing their backgrounds, characteristics, values and business models, providing reference and reference for industry players, consumers and demonstration areas.