2016年经济学人 中国的打车软件 不只是客运

 

Car-hailing apps in China

中国的打车软件

More than mobility¹

不只是客运

The ambitions of Didi Kuaidi, Uber's Chinese rival, go far beyond taxi-hailing

作为Uber的竞争对手，滴滴快的不再只限于召唤出租车。

FOREIGN internet giants often struggle in China. Facebook, Twitter and Google are largely irrelevant² on the mainland. Uber, an American car-hailing app that is conquering markets everywhere else, is also finding China hard to crack. But unlike those other tech titans, the taxi disrupter is not being frozen out by unfair Chinese regulations favouring local firms. Uber's biggest problem is that it has encountered a world-class local upstart.

国际互联网巨头经常在中国栽跟头。Facebook, Twitter和Google基本上都无法涉足这个市场。就连在世界其他地方都所向披靡的美国打车软件Uber（优步），也认为中国市场难以攻克。然而，不像其他科技巨头那样，Uber所面临的最大难题，不是中国政府对本土企业的偏袒政策，而是，它遇上了有世界级水平的本土竞争对手。

Didi Kuaidi was forged last year by the merger³ of rival taxi-hailing apps controlled by Alibaba and Tencent, two Chinese internet giants. It now dominates China's online market for personal transport. Last year it arranged 1.4 billion rides in China, more than Uber has done worldwide in its history. It has perhaps two-thirds of the market for private-car rides (the source of most of its revenues) and provides a taxi-hailing service in several hundred cities. Uber, with a third of the market for private-car service, this week announced plans to expand to cover 55 Chinese cities. Both have spent heavily on subsidies⁴ to lure⁵ drivers to sign up.

去年，由中国互联网两大巨头阿里巴巴和腾讯分别控制的滴滴打车和快的打车合并为滴滴快的。如今，它主导了中国线上个人交通市场，去年仅在中国就接单14亿次，比Uber过去在全球的战绩还要辉煌。滴滴快的已经占领了三分之二的私家出租车市场（也是其收入的主要来源）并为几百个城市提供了打车服务。而为剩下三分之一的私家出租车市场提供服务的Uber，本周宣布将扩张至55个城市。滴滴和Uber都在加大补贴以吸引司机的注册。

Unlike Uber, which in China focuses on private-car services, Didi lets users select a taxi, private car, shared car, shuttle van or bus to pick them up. During next month's Chinese New Year mass migration⁶, when millions of travellers will encounter sold-out flights and trains, Didi will help users share intercity rides at prices comparable to train fares.

不同于Uber在中国主要专注于私家出租车市场，滴滴让消费者有权利选择让什么车来接他们——出租、私家车、拼车、往返货车、甚至是公交车。在下个月的春运期间，数百万乘客可能买不到机票或火车票，滴滴软件则能向用户提供跨城拼车业务，价格与火车票相当。

It has also forged alliances with, and invested in, Uber's rivals elsewhere: GrabTaxi in South-East Asia, Ola in India and Lyft in America. Jean Liu, Didi's president and a former Goldman Sachs dealmaker, helped Didi raise $3 billion to take on Uber. Soon half of the global market will be on her alliance's technology platform, Ms Liu says, which will help both Chinese people travelling abroad and foreigners visiting China.

滴滴还与Uber在全球的其他竞争者结成同盟或者投资他们：东南亚的Grab出租车，印度的Ola以及美国的Lyft。柳青，滴滴的董事长也是前高盛集团投资经理人，帮助滴滴筹集30亿美金来与Uber竞争。柳青表示，很快全球一半市场都将纳入她的联盟科技技术平台上，这既有助于中国人去国外旅行又便于外国人来访中国。

But getting people from A to B is just the start of Didi's ambitions. It plans to offer a variety of other services that make the most of its huge base of users and the trove⁷ of data it holds on them. On January 26th the firm announced an agreement with China Merchants Bank (CMB). A growing number of Didi's drivers want to buy a new car, and many have a steady income thanks to the app, but often lack formal credit. Didi and CMB will start offering car loans—first to drivers, but in future perhaps to passengers as well.

但是在两地间接送乘客仅仅只是滴滴野心的开端。滴滴还计划提供其他多种服务，充分利用大规模的用户资源及其数据库。1月26日，公司宣布与中国招商银行达成合作协议。多亏了这一打的软件，许多司机都有了份稳定的收入，越来越多的滴滴司机想要买辆新车，但是常常缺乏正规信贷。滴滴与中国招商银行将开始提供汽车贷款——起初给司机，但是未来可能也会面向乘客。

Didi's app already lets passengers book test drives of new cars on behalf of se

veral carmakers, including Mercedes and Audi. Some 1.4m customers have taken one of 92 models for a spin since this service was launched in October.

滴滴软件已经能让乘客预约多个汽车品牌的新车试驾，其中包括奔驰与奥迪。自十月提供了这项服务以来，已有大约1400万用户从92款车型中挑选其中一款进行试驾。

Perhaps Didi's quirkiest new sideline is that of matchmaker. Hitch⁸, its ride-sharing service, will soon allow drivers and passengers to select each other based on their shared interests. It already has a deal with LinkedIn, to let people join up their accounts on the two networks. The intention of such initiatives is that white-collar workers, who often endure daily commutes⁹ of an hour or two, will have more fruitful journeys during which business, friendship and maybe even romance will develop.

也许滴滴最奇特的附加业务是做介绍人。滴滴顺风车，这一拼车服务将会允许司机与乘客基于共同的兴趣选择彼此。滴滴已经与LinkedIn（领英）达成协议，可为用户提供两个网站的账户合并。这些举措的初衷是为每日需在上下班路上花费一两个小时的白领工作者提供更多收获的旅程，而在通勤路上，他们可以拓展商务关系、发展友谊甚至邂逅浪漫的爱情。

1 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

2 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

3 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

4 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

6 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

7 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

8 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

9 commutes   

上下班路程( commute的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She commutes from Oxford to London every day. 她每天上下班往返于牛津与伦敦之间。
• Barbara lives in Oxford and commutes. 芭芭拉住在牛津，通勤往来。