Recently, AutoNavi’s self-operated online car-hailing business “Rocket Travel” has attracted a lot of attention as an important participant in the car-hailing model. In this regard, AutoNavi responded that AutoNavi adheres to the positioning of the aggregation platform, and the goal of rocket travel is to explore the next-generation online car-hailing model, and there are no other new city plans.
AutoNavi pushes self-operated online car-hailing “Rocket Travel”, can it make money?
Recently, AutoNavi’s self-operated online car-hailing business has sparked discussions. On October 26, AutoNavi’s self-operating platform “Rocket Travel” appeared on AutoNavi’s Beijing taxi platform.
The Beijing News Shell Finance reporter noticed that in the car-hailing section of AutoNavi Maps, “Rocket Travel” provides economical, preferential, six-seat business, luxury and other car services.
According to the company’s industrial and commercial information, the operator of “Rocket Travel” is Beijing Litong Travel Technology Co., Ltd. The company was registered in September 2021, and AutoNavi Software Co., Ltd. is the sole shareholder.
AutoNavi will personally end up doing self-operated online car-hailing business or see changes in the industry landscape. Since July 2021, the online car-hailing industry has undergone profound changes, and Meituan’s self-operated online car-hailing project “Meituan Taxi” has returned to the arena.
At the same time, the capital competition in the car-hailing industry has increased again. Cao Cao Travel has completed 3.8 billion yuan in Series B financing, and T3 Travel has completed 7.7 billion yuan in Series A financing.
However, making money in the car-hailing industry is not easy. For a long time, the issue of the proportion of online car-hailing has attracted much attention. Since 2021, the relevant ministries and commissions have repeatedly requested the online car-hailing platform to reduce the excessive commission ratio, set the upper limit of the commission ratio, and announce it to the public.
In July this year, Wang Xiuchun, deputy director of the Transportation Services Department of the Ministry of Transport, said that local transportation departments continue to promote the implementation of the “Sunshine Action” by platform companies that operate services locally. At present, the upper limit of the commission ratio announced by the major platform companies is mostly between 18% and 30%.
The net profit at this level is not high. In May 2021, Didi Chuxing announced its revenue. In 2020, Didi’s car-hailing driver’s income accounted for 79.1% of the total passenger payables. Of the remaining 20.9%, 10.9% are passenger subsidies, 6.9% are business operating costs (technology research and development, servers, security, customer service, manpower, offline operations, etc.) and tax and payment fees, and 3.1% are online appointments Net profit of the car business.
The net profit of most small and medium-sized online car-hailing platforms may not reach 3.1%. However, loss-making operations or low net profits are a product of a period of disorderly competition in ride-hailing.
Ding Daoshi, a senior Internet observer, believes that the business model of online car-hailing is the same as that of shared bicycles. AutoNavi’s self-operated online car-hailing will not aim to make money in the early stage, but will strengthen investment and support, cultivate user habits, and gain market share is the right way; there are trillions of market opportunities in the industry.
Giants enter the industry, and the competition in the aggregation model is fierce
In fact, before the launch of “Rocket Travel”, AutoNavi Maps was a typical enterprise that aggregated taxi-hailing models. On October 28, the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter found that in addition to rocket travel, AutoNavi Maps Beijing taxi service also links Feidi Taxi, Xinghui Travel, Beijing Taxi, Journey Easy, AA Travel, Sunshine Travel, Shenzhou Platforms such as special car, Cao Cao travel, Shouqi car-hailing and other platforms.
Aggregation patterns emerged and emerged around 2018. In September 2018, Hello announced the access to Dida travel service, and cooperated with Shouqi Car-hailing to carry out online car-hailing business cooperation. In April 2019, Meituan Dache announced the launch of the “aggregation model”. Subsequently, Didi Chuxing and navigation platforms such as AutoNavi also launched the aggregation model.
With the advantages of traffic entry and complete ecological closed loop, the aggregation platform has given new vitality to many traditional enterprises in the transportation industry. Since the beginning of this year, the “asset-light” aggregation model has also attracted more giants to join. In July this year, Huawei launched Petal Travel, an aggregated ride-hailing platform, and Tencent Travel was tested on WeChat.
The “aggregation model” has also attracted the attention of relevant ministries and commissions. In August this year, the Office of the Inter-ministerial Joint Conference on Collaborative Supervision of New Transportation Formats conducted reminder interviews with 11 platform companies including Didi Chuxing and AutoNavi, pointing out that some platforms were infringing. Issues such as legal rights and interests of employees and passengers, prominent illegal operations, and hidden safety and stability risks.
It mentioned, “The aggregation platform should ensure that the connected car-hailing platform complies with the relevant regulations, and urge the connected car-hailing platform company to strengthen the management of vehicles and personnel. In the event of a security incident, the aggregation platform company must perform the responsibility of paying first in accordance with the law, And work together with the online car-hailing platform company involved to handle the accident well.”
How to balance aggregate business and self-operated business? AutoNavi responded to the media that AutoNavi taxi and rocket travel are two completely independent and different platforms, AutoNavi adheres to the positioning of the aggregation platform. The goal of Rocket Travel is to explore the next-generation car-hailing model, and to carry out technological innovation and experiments in limited cities. Currently, Rocket Travel has no other plans for new Kaicheng.
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Chen Weicheng
Edited by Song Yuting
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