5 bucks for 7 km! The low price of "Carrot Run" caused controversy, and the vice president of Baidu: It is not to grab business

Chengdu Business Daily Red Star News

2024-07-12 17:24Published on the official account of Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily, Sichuan

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01Baidu's "Radish Run" driverless online car-hailing has increased significantly in Wuhan, and the low price has caused controversy.

02 The price of unmanned online car-hailing is a market-regulated price, which is not included in the scope of government pricing, and the market supervision department of Wuhan Economic Development Zone has no right to interfere.

03Experts believe that this situation does not constitute unfair competition, and there is a clear boundary between it and the statutory act of unfair competition, which is a positive result of scientific and technological development.

04Although the implementation of driverless online car-hailing has accelerated, it is still only a pilot stage in the city, and it will take time for large-scale commercial promotion.

05In response to technological changes, relevant departments can introduce measures such as job transfer training to help traditional drivers achieve career transformation.

The above content is generated by Tencent's hybrid model and is for reference only

Recently, Baidu's "Radish Run" driverless online car-hailing has increased significantly in Wuhan. Compared with traditional online car-hailing, the price of Radish Express is more affordable, and some netizens posted that it only costs 26 yuan to take a taxi for 28 kilometers. A Wuhan citizen posted that his 7.1-kilometer trip cost a total of 5.07 yuan.

On July 11, the driverless taxi "Radish Run" carried passengers on the streets of Wuhan. Hubei Daily map

According to China News Service @ Guoshi Through Train News: The reporter learned from the market supervision department of Wuhan Economic Development Zone that the price of unmanned online car-hailing is a market-regulated price and is not included in the scope of government pricing, and they have no right to interfere. Zhang Ming, a partner at Jingshi Law Firm, believes that this situation does not constitute unfair competition, and there is a clear boundary between it and the statutory acts of unfair competition, which is a positive result of the development of science and technology.

According to Hubei Daily, the company has put more than 400 driverless cars in Wuhan, and by the end of 2024, it is expected that it will break even in Wuhan and fully enter a profitable period in 2025.

With the gradual promotion of driverless online car-hailing, some voices pointed out that unmanned driving has robbed taxi and online car-hailing drivers of their jobs? Will it replace the driver? The relevant person in charge of the Wuhan Municipal Transportation Bureau told reporters that "the (taxi) automobile industry in Wuhan is relatively stable, and there are many rumors on the Internet."

According to official information, "Radish Run" is an autonomous driving travel service platform launched by Baidu Apollo, which has opened manned test operation services in 11 cities, and carried out fully unmanned autonomous driving travel service tests in Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and other places.

Baidu's vice president said that the radish run is not to grab business

Recently, Radish Run has sparked heated discussions, because of the low taxi fare, it was accused of "robbing the driver's job". Previously, Wang Yunpeng, vice president of Baidu, once said: "The original intention of making unmanned cars is not to grab the business of taxi online car-hailing drivers, but to better serve the people and provide a new way of travel."

Red Star Review丨Should we worry about "driverless online car-hailing stealing human jobs"?

While the concept of unmanned driving has attracted market attention and multiple stock price limits, concerns about "whether unmanned driving will steal human jobs" have also caused a lot of discussion on the Internet. From a historical perspective, every major technological innovation brings about a change in the mode of production, while reshaping the employment structure of society. Under the impact of new technologies, some traditional jobs are often at risk.

During the Industrial Revolution, after the loom was put into mass production, some craftsmen lost their jobs. The relevant historical fragments profoundly reveal the tension between technological progress and social change. Throughout the ages, the conflicts caused by technological shocks have never stopped. When online car-hailing first appeared, it was also attacked by the taxi industry; After the popularity of e-commerce, it also caused concerns about the real economy being squeezed. Of course, none of these voices have stopped the process of technological development.

Returning to the perspective of driverless online car-hailing, no matter how people look at it, the gradual promotion of driverless technology has become a global "bright card" trend, which is being promoted at home and abroad. Not long ago, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of pilot cities for the application of "vehicle-road-cloud integration" for intelligent networked vehicles, including 20 cities.

The reason is very simple, the development of unmanned driving is not only a market behavior, but also can improve traffic efficiency, but also drive the transformation and upgrading of automobiles, transportation, information and communication and other fields: first, the development of artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and other technologies at this stage continues to mature, which can support their commercialization; Second, compared with the traditional taxi and online car-hailing industries, driverless online car-hailing abandons the service differences caused by human factors and makes services more standardized. At the same time, because the cost of hiring a driver is eliminated, part of the operating cost is reduced.

At the same time, it is too early to say whether the landing of driverless online car-hailing will squeeze the living space of taxis and online car-hailing. As an important area of flexible employment, the ride-hailing industry itself is also facing the problem of capacity saturation.

In Wuhan, for example, according to China News Weekly, local authorities have responded to the "Carrot Run" by putting more than 400 driverless cars in Wuhan. On May 9 this year, according to Jiupai News, Wuhan operated an average of 29,400 online car-hailing vehicles per day. Compared with the two, the proportion of driverless online car-hailing is still small.

From the macro perspective of human scientific and technological progress, technology continues to progress, traditional industries continue to iterate and upgrade, and at the same time, new jobs have been born. For example, when autonomous driving enters the market, it will also create many new occupations, such as test engineers, repair and maintenance personnel, safety officers and monitors, etc., and the overall employment will not necessarily be reduced.

In addition, although the acceleration of unmanned driving is accelerating, it is still only in the urban pilot stage, and it will take time for large-scale commercial promotion. In addition, in order to ensure the safety of driverless ride-hailing, a large amount of road data must be collected and analyzed extensively for continuous learning and optimization. This process is complex and long, and it cannot be achieved in three to five days.

Of course, we can't ignore the worries and demands of some taxi and ride-hailing drivers, for whom it is normal to have worries in the face of driverless ride-hailing "entry". In the face of the tide of technological change, we should take precautions and actively take forward-looking measures to minimize the negative impact of technological change and ensure that the fruits of scientific and technological progress can benefit a wider range of social groups.

For example, can we adopt a staggered peak strategy, prioritizing pilot operations at night or during off-peak hours, which not only avoids direct competition with taxis and online car-hailing, but also facilitates people who travel at night? In addition, the relevant departments may wish to cooperate with enterprises, in addition to improving unemployment insurance and other social security, to introduce some job transfer training measures to help traditional drivers achieve career transformation.

Only by striking an effective balance between technological progress and job security can the driverless train, which carries the vision of smart travel, run more steadily.

Source: Red Star News Comprehensive @国事直通车, Super Leopard News, Red Star News Special Commentator Xiong Zhi

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