China’s E-Hailing Giant DiDi Files For IPO; Valuation Could Double That Of Grab

China’s largest e-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, has filed to be publicly listed in the US through an IPO (initial public offering) that could be the biggest this year. Indeed, the firm could end up with a valuation that is more than double that of Grab – the Southeast Asian giant that we’re all more familiar with.

Sources previously told Reuters that the IPO could aim for a valuation close to US$100 billion (~RM410.8 billion). And according to a Bloomberg report in April, the company was looking into a valuation of as much as US$70 billion (~RM287.6 billion) to US$100 billion. That would easily beat Alibaba’s US$25 billion (~RM102.7 billion) IPO in 2014 – the largest achieved by a Chinese company listing in the US.

As a comparison, Grab is going public in a SPAC deal worth US$39.6 billion (RM 163.7 billion) – the largest of its kind on record. For more information on what SPACs and IPOs are, you can refer to this piece. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Didi has a substantially larger pool of potential customers (China, etc.) than Grab (Southeast Asia).

According to Reuters, Didi CEO Cheng Wei said last year that the company wants to have 800 million monthly active users worldwide and complete 100 million orders a day by 2022 – this includes e-hailing, bike and food delivery orders.

Grab, on the other hand, often touts the total population of Southeast Asia (currently 650 million) as its potential customers. As you can see, the difference is pretty staggering.

Baidu Introduces Driverless E-Hailing Service In Beijing

Chinese search giant Baidu launched what it claims to be a fully driverless e-hailing service in Beijing yesterday – the first of its kind in China.

The company said the Apollo Go Robotaxi service would be available in the capital’s Shougang Park – one of the venues of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – where it’ll be ferrying visitors at the games. Apollo is Baidu’s AI-powered autonomous driving platform.

People can call for the robotaxi service by using the Apollo Go app. It has features like virtual reality navigation and remote car honking to help users locate the car. To unlock the car’s doors, users have to scan a QR code and health code on the vehicle for identity verification and COVID-19 prevention reasons.

Once they’re on board and the “Start the Journey” button is pressed, the system ensures that seat belts are fastened and doors are closed before beginning the trip. What happens in an emergency? Baidu said its 5G Remote Driving Service will be present at all times, allowing human operators to intervene if necessary.

The search giant said the robotaxi service was launched “only after conducting countless scalable driverless tests in many cities over a long period of time.” The company plans to introduce the service in more cities in the future, promoting it as a way of alleviating traffic congestion and helping China achieve its climate goals.

Uber And Arrival To Develop Electric Car Specifically For E-Hailing Industry

E-hailing pioneer Uber will be partnering with UK electric vehicle (EV) company Arrival to develop an affordable electric car specifically made for e-hailing drivers. The new vehicle is expected to enter production in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023).

Arrival said it would be involving Uber drivers in the design process over the coming months to ensure the vehicle meets the needs of working drivers and their passengers. The company expects to unveil the final design for the car before the end of this year.

Uber’s involvement here seems natural, given the launch of its Clean Air Plan two years ago. The company said it has raised over £135 million (~RM775.8 million) to help drivers with the cost of switching to a fully electric vehicle. It has committed to becoming a fully electric mobility platform in London by 2025 and across North America and Europe by 2030.

The e-hailing pioneer recently launched Uber Green in London, allowing passengers to select a fully electric vehicle at no extra cost, while drivers pay a lower service fee. The company wants to double the number of drivers in EVs by the end of this year as part of its efforts to make all cars on its app fully electric by 2025.