Autonavi Positioning Global Travel： Launching Aggregate Car-hailing Platform

　　Since online car-hailing entered the public eye in 2014, in less than four years, online car-hailing has changed the way a large part of Chinese people travel. In 2017, Didi Chuxing completed a total of nearly 10 billion US dollars in financing, with a valuation of more than 50 billion US dollars, becoming a well-deserved giant in the field of online car-hailing.

　　However, this has not stopped some new players from entering the field one after another, and unlike the vertical competition between online ride-hailing platforms in the previous two years, this year has ushered in a cross-border melee. Among them are the in-depth expansion of shared mobility platforms, the high-profile entry of Meituan, which is about to go public, and the strong entry of traditional automakers such as Geely and FAW.

　　Among many cross-border players, the Autonavi map under Alibaba Group is a bit special because unlike other platforms’ self-operated online car-hailing business, Autonavi is a online car-hailing aggregation platform. Since July this year, Autonavi has begun to vigorously promote the "one-click full network car-hailing" Autonavi taxi service, which is connected to online car-hailing platforms including Didi Chuxing, Shenzhou Car, Shouqi Car, Cao Cao Car, etc.

　　In an interview with 21st Century Business Herald on August 6, Dong Zhenning, vice-president of Autonavi Maps, said: "The original intention of Autonavi’s ride-hailing business is not to get a share of the ride-hailing industry, and it never wants to become another Didi. The’one-click ride-hailing ‘function has brought about 200% increase in daily orders to the ride-hailing partners on the platform, and compared with the industry average, it has also saved users 10% of waiting time."

　　Don’t be another "Didi"

　　In fact, the reason why there are so many cross-border players to join, on the one hand, because there is still room for development in the travel industry, there are still a large number of user requests that have not been well met; on the other hand, the current competition in the online car-hailing market has long since gotten rid of the simple battle of new and subsidy, and evolved into a three-dimensional war across the upstream and downstream of the industry.

　　According to Aurora Big Data statistics, as of the end of 2017, the market penetration rate of online car-hailing apps was 14%, and the market size exceeded 140 million people. Dong Zhenning told reporters that from the current market situation analysis, it is difficult for a single online car-hailing platform to cover all regions, nor to meet the different needs of users. The current reality of taxi-hailing difficulties highlights this deficiency.

　　At present, the hottest topic in the travel market is "difficult to take a taxi". Recently, users in many cities have reported on the Internet that using online car-hailing platforms to take a taxi often encounters no answer or long queues. "Current ranking is 123rd, estimated waiting time is 2 hours", similar information appears on users’ mobile phone screens, on the one hand because of the hot weather in midsummer or the impact of natural factors such as heavy rain, on the other hand because of the management upgrades brought about by the implementation of new policies for online car-hailing in various places.

　　In early July, Beijing began to implement the new policy of online car-hailing management, "Beijing Municipal Regulations on Investigating and Punishing Illegal Passenger Transport," which further reduced the number of service vehicles and exacerbated the shortage of online car-hailing services. In this case, users usually choose to download a variety of different online car-hailing apps and try their luck one by one.

　　Dong Zhenning said that the launch of Autonavi’s ride-hailing business is based on this scenario, allowing users to simultaneously call Didi, Cao Cao, Shouqi, Shenzhou and other online ride-hailing services with one click, and prioritize service providers with fast response speed.

　　According to the reporter, when a user takes a taxi through Autonavi, although all the processes are completed within the Autonavi app, in fact, the payment amount of the order, as well as the driver, vehicle, fee complaint and other travel services are all determined and provided by the connected online car-hailing platform.

　　A relevant person in charge of Didi Chuxing told the 21st Century Business Herald that for Didi, accessing an aggregation platform like Autonavi is actually equivalent to an additional channel and customer acquisition entrance. Moreover, the map app and the taxi service themselves have a high degree of compatibility, and users can directly order a car after searching for the route, which is a very close to the user’s life scenario.

　　The person in charge also expressed his doubts to the reporter, "In some specific circumstances, the online car-hailing market is in a state of shortage. Although the aggregation platform can improve the efficiency of car-hailing, if all platforms can’t get a car, the aggregation platform is actually powerless."

　　A product manager of a shared bicycle company admitted in an interview that for shared bicycles, the role of aggregation platforms is indeed very limited, because this is a market where supply exceeds demand. Users usually see what bicycles are parked on the roadside first, and then choose what app to use to unlock. "The market conditions of online car-hailing and shared bicycles are different. Even if the aggregation platform cannot change the supply of online car-hailing, it can also improve the efficiency of users."

　　From map to platform

　　During the interview, the reporter felt from Dong Zhenning’s description that Autonavi Maps’ ambition goes beyond just making a map tool product. In July last year, Autonavi launched a one-stop public travel service platform – the Easy Travel Platform, and recently, Autonavi Maps has completed the upgrade of the platform: from "one-stop public travel service platform" to "one-stop global travel service platform".

　　The difference in a few words has made a major change in the positioning of Autonavi. Dong Zhenning told reporters that the upgraded Easy Line platform will not only solve the problem of "how to go" for users, but also further help users decide "where to go".

　　Based on this change, Autonavi’s map partners have also begun to become more diverse. It is reported that in addition to the previous travel service providers, Autonavi has also added information partners such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China Meteorological Administration, Ping An Bank, Atom Zhixing, 58 Express, Harrow Bicycle and other travel partners, as well as Cadillac, XPeng Motors, Chihiro Location and other car company partners.

　　In Dong Zhenning’s opinion, Autonavi’s business has spanned from taxi-hailing and automobiles to the current tourism, meteorological and financial fields, and is actually developing in the direction of "three-dimensional information services + global travel services". He believes that "travel in the real world is by no means a simple’A to B ‘, but all factors must be taken into account. Therefore, it is necessary to cooperate with partners in more fields and integrate more data and information."

　　According to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, after Autonavi Maps was integrated into Alibaba Group in 2014, it immediately put forward a new slogan of "dedicated and professional", which began to streamline the core business and focus on map navigation services. This has also helped Autonavi’s market share continue to increase in recent years. According to QuestMobile data, as of March 2018, the number of daily active users of Autonavi Maps reached 60 million.

　　Nowadays, Autonavi’s new strategy seems to start to "simplify and simplify", in addition to map navigation, it also includes almost all travel-related information services. Dong Zhenning believes that this is Autonavi’s development in response to market changes, but the diversification of business is often accompanied by more competition and challenges. To truly become a comprehensive travel service platform, Autonavi still has a long way to go.

　　(Edited by Zhou Kaiping)

　　"Palm" grip technology fresh news (WeChat search techsina or scan the QR code on the left to follow)