China Built the First Electric Car Designed Exclusively For Ride-Hailing (theverge.com) 15
Two of China's top companies have joined forces to design, develop, and build an electric car for the express purpose of ride-hailing. The Verge reports: The vehicle is an adorable green hatchback called the D1, and it was developed by Didi Chuxing, the top ride-hailing company in China that notoriously defeated Uber in 2016, and BYD, one of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers. The D1 will have a range of 418 km (260 miles) as judged by NEDC (New European Driving Cycle). They also explained some of the more interesting design touches that make this vehicle particularly well-suited for app-based ride-hailing.
There is a medium-sized screen on the dashboard as well as two more touchscreens on the back of both headrests for passengers to access navigation and other information. There is one more smaller screen behind the steering wheel that serves as an instrument cluster. The car comes with sliding doors to prevent riders from accidentally hitting passengers or cyclists. The driver's seat is extra comfy for extended use, and there's added legroom in the back seat. The paint job is described as "avocado green," which is similar to Didi's shared bikes.
The D1 will come with a Level 2 driver assistance system that includes lane-departure warning, automatic braking, and pedestrian collision warning. There will also be a driver monitoring system to ensure that drivers keep their hands on the wheel and stay focused on the road. Didi says it used data gathered from its 550 million registered passengers and 31 million drivers to design the D1.
There is a medium-sized screen on the dashboard as well as two more touchscreens on the back of both headrests for passengers to access navigation and other information. There is one more smaller screen behind the steering wheel that serves as an instrument cluster. The car comes with sliding doors to prevent riders from accidentally hitting passengers or cyclists. The driver's seat is extra comfy for extended use, and there's added legroom in the back seat. The paint job is described as "avocado green," which is similar to Didi's shared bikes.
The D1 will come with a Level 2 driver assistance system that includes lane-departure warning, automatic braking, and pedestrian collision warning. There will also be a driver monitoring system to ensure that drivers keep their hands on the wheel and stay focused on the road. Didi says it used data gathered from its 550 million registered passengers and 31 million drivers to design the D1.
Re: first cap (Score:1)
2013 called... (Score:3)
... and wants its Waymo Firefly back. Firefly was (an unofficial name for) Google's electric pod car with no steering wheel or accelerator -- a rather obvious prior example of an electric car designed for ride hailing.
Re: (Score:2)
... and wants its Waymo Firefly back. Firefly was (an unofficial name for) Google's electric pod car with no steering wheel or accelerator -- a rather obvious prior example of an electric car designed for ride hailing.
Ah yes, for some reason it reminds me of "Johnny Cab" from Total Recall.
Property rights and control (Score:4, Informative)
I don't many people understand the societal impact of these technologies. The oligarchs of China do. The end goal is a life bereft of all control. You rent your living space or are given it by the government. You get a monthly stipend by the grace of the state. You ride public transportation or rent a taxi. You watch and listen to what you're allowed to at any moment, subject to change. You have little of yours to protect. In the end, you are a shell of a human being, with nothing to strive towards and nothing to protect, a subject of your superiors, be it the state, the corporate overlords, both... who cares. This is the brave new world the likes of which Huxley could barely have imagined. The Big Brother is here. He came quietly, but he's not leaving.
Re: (Score:2)
with nothing to strive towards
An obvious goal to strive for is to be one of the oligarchs.
Re: Property rights and control (Score:1)
An impossible goal, as the oligarchs do not want to share their wealth, power, or control.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, a bit over-the-top, but when in all of China's 7,000 years of history have the lower class had control over their lives? Never. Personal independence has never been a highly valued trait in their culture, and the result is that in spite of invasions, plagues, economic upheavals, famines and repeated governmental collapse China is still China, and will continue to be China throughout the foreseeable future. Regardless of your own bigotry and cultural myopia what they have works for them, and you're
Re: (Score:3)
"Bigotry" and "Cultural myopia"... wow - those are some big claims. Yet it's little more than projection. I get to have my opinion of what is important. You claim that personal freedom is not important to the Chinese, and you base it on the fact that their lower class has never had one. That's the equivalent of stating in 1860 that the slaves have never had freedom and it's thus not important to them, so they should stay slaves. In the end, moral relativism simply doesn't stand up to historical scrutiny. Fr
Congratulations, China (Score:3)
You've just given birth to a baby minivan. It's oozing with style, too.
The only thing interesting is that it's electric and has decent specs.
Subdivide the cabin (Score:2)
If you're designing a car specifically for ride sharing I wonder why they don't subdivide the cabin as well? I think that is the way taxi/ride sharing is eventually going to go, each car tied to a complex routing software that allows multiple people to be picked up and transported within their own individual "cabins" to their individual destinations along a computer calculated route.
Why do passengers need displays? (Score:2)
Instead of installing displays in the seats, it would be better to have some more space.