Per reporter: Li Zhuo Per intern reporter: Yang Xinyi Per editor: Liu Xuemei
Without pulling out the mobile phone, you can call and take orders; automatically identify the low-light environment and turn on the anti-collision warning; intelligent helmet detection, reminding riders to wear helmets...
In the past two years, with the rapid expansion and expansion of the takeaway errands business, the takeaway workers who shuttle through the streets and alleys have also become the main force of "last-mile delivery". A safe and intelligent helmet has also become an indispensable black technology to further ensure the safety of riders' delivery.
On April 25, Meituan Delivery announced at the smart helmet laying launch conference that it will launch 100,000 new smart safety helmets in Beijing, Suzhou, Haikou and other cities this year. During the pilot period, the cost of the helmet does not need to be borne by the rider, and the rider must wear it in accordance with the relevant specifications during the order.
Image source: Photo by reporter Zhang Jian
It is worth mentioning that the launch of the second generation of Meituan intelligent safety helmet, in the research and development process more comprehensive consideration of the actual needs of riders and complex work scenarios, without significantly increasing the total weight, the overall optimization of the helmet function design, and in February this year completed the trial production trial.
At the beginning of this year, Ele.me also began to pilot the launch of smart helmets, and it is expected that this year's smart helmets will cover 100,000 active knights across the country. According to Ele.me to the "Daily Economic News", the smart helmet has a variety of functions such as wearing status recognition, order recognition, collision recognition, voice interaction, intelligent outbound call, etc., and the shape, size and weight of the helmet are not much different from ordinary helmets.
In July 2021, seven departments jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Responsibilities of Online Catering Platforms to Effectively Safeguard the Rights and Interests of Takeaway Delivery Workers. Focusing on the aspect of "optimizing the working environment", the "Opinions" clearly proposed to "promote the setting up of temporary residence points for takeaway food delivery workers, promote the laying of intelligent food cabinets, encourage the research and development of smart helmets and other wearable devices, and create a good working environment".
How to better protect the rights and interests of takeaway workers, takeaway platforms in addition to constantly modifying platform rules, but also try to reduce the burden of takeaway brothers through scientific and technological means. In addition to smart helmets, in the past two years, takeaway platforms have developed intelligent technology products such as drones and food cabinets to solve complex practical problems in the takeaway delivery process, hoping to further improve the efficiency of distribution by realizing human-machine collaboration.
Zhao Xiaoma, a partner at China Insight Consulting, said in an interview with the Daily Economic News reporter WeChat that with the fading of the demographic dividend and the completeness of national supervision, the main competitive theme of takeaway giants may be to overcome increasingly high delivery costs and carry out business models and technological innovations to maintain the growth trend of market size.
Meituan Hungry Racing Rider Safety Guarantee
"It's a hands-free artifact." After using the Perfect Regiment smart helmet, Beijing rider Fan Tieming sighed.
For a long time, riders need to operate their mobile phones or answer phones many times in the whole process from receiving orders to delivery, which can easily lead to distractions and accidents. The smart safety helmet has voice call and order receiving functions, which greatly improves the safety of distribution.
Meituan introduced that the smart helmet has a built-in Bluetooth module, after connecting with the rider's mobile phone and App, if there is an incoming call, the rider only needs to click the shortcut key on the left side of the helmet to answer; press for 2 seconds to reject; if not operated, the ring will automatically answer the call after 10 seconds. When hearing app voice commands such as receiving orders, grabbing orders, transferring orders, or arriving at the store, picking up meals, etc., riders can also click shortcut keys to complete the confirmation operation. If you don't want to do it, you can use your mouth to reply to "confirmation", and you can also operate by voice.
"In the process of research and development, more comprehensive consideration of the actual needs of riders and the complex scenarios of work, and through the channels of rider research, rider earnest talks and product experience officers to listen to the opinions of riders, a smart safety helmet using AIoT technology has been developed to reduce dangerous driving behavior during the riding process and improve safety protection capabilities from multiple ways." Meituan R & D experts said at the scene.
Meituan's smart safety helmets started research and development in June 2020, and in June 2021, they were launched in batches in Hunan, Guangdong, Liaoning, Ningxia and other provinces.
Smart helmet is not a meituan patent, in early 2022, Ele.me piloted a smart helmet in Shanghai, and the basic function of the smart helmet is close to that of meituan. Hungry Mo said that smart helmets have been distributed in batches and are expected to cover 100,000 active knights across the country this year. The first smart helmets were in the form of targeted invitations, which were distributed to knights for free for internal testing.
Image source: Photo by reporter Zhang Jian
Although Meituan and Ele.me have publicly stated that smart helmets do not need to bear the cost of riders during the pilot period, compared with traditional ordinary helmets, smart helmets will generate additional costs due to new smart modules, redesign customization, etc. Ele.me said that after the subsequent opening of the purchase, it will subsidize each smart helmet to ensure that the price of smart helmets is the same as the price of existing ordinary helmets. Knights can choose whether to use smart helmets according to their own delivery needs.
For both companies, the benefits of smart helmets are not currently considered. Ele.me has previously publicly stated that the layout of the smart helmet is currently not considering the input-output ratio, but positioning it as a "production tool". How to empower existing production tools through science and technology, improve work efficiency, reduce work intensity, promote the development of the entire industry, and let takeaway knights have higher quality employment. Meituan also said that the starting point of smart helmets is to ensure the safety and experience of riders, so it has not considered relying on the promotion of smart helmets to bring income.
But there are also concerns in the industry that with the future mass production and open purchase, will riders pay for smart helmets that are much higher than ordinary helmets? And, how much can smart helmets play in improving safety index and improving distribution efficiency?
Takeaway industry launched a "smart equipment war"
In the research and development of "takeaway black technology", the results of meituan are not only smart helmets.
As early as October 2016, Meituan set up a "W project team" to develop unmanned distribution in specific scenarios to cope with and meet complex distribution scenarios and consumer needs.
It is reported that since the official launch of the drone delivery service in 2017, Meituan has continuously explored the low-altitude logistics model and completed the first trial flight mission for real users in Shenzhen in January this year.
Meituan's new generation of self-developed unmanned delivery vehicles was also officially put into operation in Shunyi, Beijing in April 2021. According to the data provided by Meituan, as of now, the unmanned delivery vehicle has been put into operation in more than 20 communities in Shunyi District, with a cumulative delivery of 35,000 orders and an autonomous driving mileage of nearly 300,000 kilometers.
In addition, Meituan has also invested in the research and development of intelligent technology products such as takeaway cabinets. Among them, after the pilot in 2019, Meituan has released 1,000 food cabinets to the whole country in batches since March 2020. Up to now, the Meituan food cabinet has been stationed in more than 60 cities across the country, and the scale of each city is counted in hundreds.
At the same time, as the strongest opponent of Meituan in the takeaway business, Ele.me has repeatedly invested in research and development in recent years, and has launched a series of "takeaway black technology" services.
In addition to products such as drone delivery services and food cabinets similar to Meituan, Ele.me and Shanghai Vanke jointly launched the first intelligent takeaway delivery robot in China, "Wan Xiao Hungry", which can efficiently replace takeaway riders to complete the "last kilometer" in the office building.
In addition to the distribution end, Ele.me's scientific and technological research and development has not ignored the product side. In December 2021, Ele.me launched an AI dish analysis system "Hungry Taste" for merchants, trying to help merchants develop new dishes through the platform's digital technology and market insight capabilities, combined with artificial intelligence algorithms.
To this day, the giants of the takeaway industry continue to increase research and development. According to the financial report, in the third quarter of 2021, Meituan's R&D investment increased by about 60% year-on-year to 4.7 billion yuan, accounting for 9.6% of total revenue.
For the reasons why takeaway platforms have re-invested in research and development, Zhuang Shuai, founder of Bailian Consulting, explained to the "Daily Economic News" reporter that one is to ensure the safety of riders, and the other is to optimize the route, balance the relationship between user experience and rider delivery efficiency, and unmanned delivery can also alleviate the shortage of riders, "especially after the emergence of the epidemic, the future human-machine combination of distribution methods can also greatly improve distribution efficiency." ”
Zhao Xiaoma also said that "takeaway black technology" is beneficial to the platform, consumers, and riders, so the takeaway platform will invest heavily in research and development, which can further ensure that enterprises have lasting growth momentum and enhance their competitiveness.
It can be seen that under the development trend of the industry, the background of the times and the choice of giants, the arena of takeaway platforms has shifted from business scale and delivery speed to intelligent equipment.
It is foreseeable that the takeaway service is undergoing a new round of update iteration, and what kind of smart products and services will appear in the industry in the future is worth the attention and expectations of consumers and the market.
Daily economic news