On the streets of Xiamen in March, cold winds gusted. At seven o’clock in the evening, the sky had just darkened, and they were already waiting by the restaurant with their bicycles. After a while, people who were full of food and drinks walked out of the restaurant one after another, and their "nightlife" officially began.

　　Walking through the night, they have to carry up and down folding bicycles weighing 30 or 40 catties; working in the dark, their customers are mostly drunk men… Recently, our reporter approached the group of female drivers, followed them to take orders and listen to their stories. Today, we present the most authentic life conditions of female drivers through the narratives of Xiaoxiao, Amei and Aqi.

　　Female chauffeurs are already a large group in Xiamen. The picture shows Amei at work. (Photos from this group/Photo by reporter Huang Rong)

　　[Misunderstood]

　　The customer heard a female voice and thought he made the wrong call.

　　Because there are not many female chauffeurs, they are often regarded as "rare animals".

　　When some customers heard the female voice, they immediately said, I’m sorry, I made a typo. After learning that there was indeed no typo, they explained again and again. After calling for a driver for several years, they had never met a woman and thought they had made a typo. There was a male customer driving a Porsche who saw a female chauffeur and said "hi": "He asked me to try the performance of the car and drive 200km/h to Xiamen Bridge. I didn’t listen to him and controlled the speed at 60 kilometers per hour. He was furious and asked me, do you know how pigs died, and I replied, stupid; he said, no, disobedient to death." Then, the male customer said again: Unfortunately, I drive a Porsche of more than one million. If it is a car of 200,000 or 300,000, I will let you drive it directly home.

　　[Being harassed]

　　The drunkard moved his hands and feet, and asked her to "introduce Miss"

　　"Young women are not very suitable for this line of work," Ah Mei said bluntly. Female drivers mostly take orders at night, and the customers are mostly men who drink too much. As she got older, she said, "it’s safer and less troublesome." Even so, Ah Mei still encountered a lot of troubles.

　　In early March, two drunken male customers were going to Hexu Li, but when they saw that a female driver was coming, they immediately changed their minds and went to find "Miss", and asked her if she had any sisters to do this. "Seeing that Ah Mei said no, a man in the back seat reached out to touch her face: I see if there are any wrinkles on your face. When they got to the place, Ah Mei stopped the car and took off the bicycle." One man snatched my bicycle directly and wanted to try it, and the other man came directly and wanted to hug me and asked me to take him to find’Miss’. "Ah Mei pushed the male customer away, angry, tired, and aggrieved all welled up in her heart. However, the next day, the male client called Amei to apologize, which helped her balance a lot, but instead comforted them not to take it to heart.

　　36-Year-old Aqi had a similar experience. Once, when she arrived on her bicycle, the man who called for the driver was already drunk, and there was a male companion in his 20s next to her. Seeing a female driver, the young man stuffed his drunk friend into the back seat of the car and got into the co-pilot himself. As soon as the car started, the young man came up with a smile on his face, "Sister, you still dare to come out and take orders so late." Seeing Aqi’s silence, the boy became more "arrogant" and his hands and feet began to be dishonest. At that time, in July and August, the young man reached out and touched Aqi’s armpit. Aqi was so angry that he warned, "I can be your aunt at my age, so you can take care of yourself." The young man didn’t listen and "moved" his hands several times. Aqi finally broke out and scolded the other party, "The steering wheel is in my hands, do you still want to be safe!" Hearing this, the young man was so frightened that he withdrew his hand.

　　[Being tracked]

　　Male colleague with ulterior motives uses location sharing to find her home

　　It was disturbing enough to encounter customers who moved their hands and feet. Aqi never expected that some male chauffeurs would be "unrelenting" to her.

　　Since all the chauffeurs were on the same work platform and could see the location information of their colleagues, the rare female chauffeurs naturally became the "object of attention" of their male colleagues. "Most of the male colleagues still take good care of me, but there are always some who make uncomfortable jokes under the banner of’caring ‘with ulterior motives."

　　Aqi told reporters that when he first started driving, only three or four of them were customers’ orders in one night, and the other 10 or so were "condolence calls" from nearby male colleagues. Because it was a work number, Aqi had to answer.

　　Among them, the one with less "lethality" was a sarcastic sentence, "Why does a woman work so hard? Does she have no husband at home?"

　　These words were like sharp knives stabbing in Aqi’s heart, "I also rely on my own ability to make money hard, why do you think of me so unbearably."

　　In January this year, a male chauffeur was "monitoring" Aqi’s whereabouts all the time, and even chased after Aqi’s door and stalked her. Finally, Aqi had to call the police for help.

　　[Being taken care of]

　　The customer was afraid that she would not be able to return home, so he specially called a car to take her home

　　However, there are also heartwarming moments.

　　On the last order before the Spring Festival, at around 8pm, Amei sent a male customer to Jinjiang. As soon as he got on the bus, the male customer saw a female chauffeur and asked, how can you go back to Xiamen so far away. "I don’t have a bottom line," Hearing Amei’s answer, the male customer made seven or eight calls along the way to contact the car back to Xiamen for her, and didn’t feel relieved until he found it. "He said that if I were a man, he would give up after making two calls at most, but I am a woman. I am afraid that I will not be able to return to Xiamen, and I will not be willing to stay in a hotel, and I will wait on the roadside until dawn." In order to make Ameido some money, the male customer also specially let her take a long detour.

　　Another time, it was raining at night, and Ah Mei had to drive for a man and a woman. Because of the rain, she was afraid that the bicycle would wet the customer’s car. Ah Mei laid a cushion on the passenger’s trunk in the rain, and then put the bicycle in. Then she opened the driver’s door and took out the seat cover, for fear of getting the seat wet. The male customer is Taiwanese, and he was afraid that she would get wet, so he kept saying it was okay and got on the bus quickly. Seeing Ah Mei’s insistence, the male customer gave a thumbs up: I didn’t expect the service in the mainland to be first-class. After getting off the bus, the male customer also gave her an umbrella. There are many such moments, and every time I think of it, Ah Mei will feel warm in my heart. (At the request of the interviewee, the female drivers in the text are all pseudonyms)

　　[Lens]

　　Take 9 orders in one night and finish work at 4am

　　At 9 o’clock the night before, at the entrance of a seafood shop near Ershi City, Xiaoxiao pushed the folding bicycle and walked towards us. After receiving the driving order every night, Xiaoxiao rode it to the customer, folded it, and carried it to the trunk of the customer’s car. After delivering the customer to the destination, Xiaoxiao carried it off and continued on the road. Every night around 6 o’clock, Xiaoxiao would ride a bicycle to a place with a lot of traffic and wait for the order.

　　We followed Xiaoxiao to send a customer to Lianhua Village, but the bicycle couldn’t be folded. Xiaoxiao was anxious and squatted on the ground for about ten minutes, "really embarrassing". That night, she took 9 orders and didn’t finish work until 4 am the next day. Riding a bicycle, she returned home from the second phase of the software park to Fanghu Road.

　　[Data]

　　growth rate of driving

　　Xiamen ranks third in the country

　　Xiamen’s driving market is dominated by e-driving and Didi driving. According to the big data released by e-driving, Xiamen ranked third in the growth rate of driving in major cities across the country in 2015, with a growth rate of 141%.

　　Xiamen two major driving merchants

　　There are more than 700 female chauffeurs

　　Four months after the e-driving service opened in Xiamen, the first woman to register has been welcomed, and this group has now grown to more than 500 people. Among Didi’s drivers, there are currently 226 female drivers. Combined with the data of Didi’s drivers and e-drivers, the proportion of female drivers in Xiamen is close to 10%.

　　Female drivers are more popular

　　The take-up rate is twice as high as that of men

　　Although the number of female drivers is small, they are quite popular. For example, some women will "name" and ask for female drivers. Data provided by e-driving shows that between 6 and 11 pm, "online" female drivers receive 1.9 times as many orders as male drivers.

　　[Voice]

　　"It’s a lie to say you’re not afraid"

　　Almost all customers will ask me: Are you not afraid of being a female driver? It is false to say that you are not afraid, but when driving a customer’s car, the steering wheel and accelerator are under my control, and generally they will not do anything to me. – Aqi

　　I don’t think it’s okay about safety. Xiamen people are of good quality, and I have fitness. But I didn’t tell my parents that I was a female driver, for fear that they would be worried. But after my sister found out, she asked me to bring some "anti-wolf weapons". – – Xiaoxiao (Text/Reporter, Wang Yuting, Huang Xiaofang)

Text/Lu Shiming

Editing/Gale

On June 25, Avita Technology landed at the Chongqing International Auto Show and launched a new generation of intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, C (Changan) H (Huawei) N (Ningde Times).

It is worth mentioning that Zhu Huarong, chairperson of Changan Automobile, Xu Zhijun, chairperson of Huawei, and Zeng Yuqun, chairperson of Ningde Times, attended the Avita press conference together. Under the "luxury" lineup, Avita’s popularity has been rising again and again.

Avita Launch

At present, all the traditional independent brands want to complete an upward breakthrough at the time of electrification and intelligent transformation. The Great Wall has salons, Geely has polar krypton, and the well-off has questions. Now Changan, which is a little slower, has also joined the array and launched its high-end new energy brand Avita.

Unlike most new brands, Avita had one more halo, and the three-way cooperation between Changan, Huawei, and Ningde Times made Avita’s prospects broader. But reality was always skinny, and even if there were real materials, Avita’s problems gradually appeared in front of many consumers.

That includes the naming of Avita, the appearance of the first model, the Avita 11, and the theory of "emotional intelligence" that Avita’s chairperson and chief executive, Tan Benhong, has spent a lot of time describing. These issues, while the opinion of the benevolent and the wise, also reflect some of Avita’s shortcomings.

More importantly, compared with other traditional brands’ "two factories" cooperation model, Avita’s so-called "three giants cooperation" not only brings obvious advantages, but also brings a question that the market can’t help but associate, that is, whether there will be differences in interests that will hinder the development of the brand.

As a latecomer to the market, Avita itself does not have an advantage. If the dispute points and potential hidden dangers are not resolved earlier, it may be difficult to get a piece of the cake in this highly competitive track.

Avita’s past and present life

In fact, Avita is not Changan’s "newborn", its predecessor is "Changan NIO", which is a brand jointly established by Changan and NIO.

At the 2018 Qixi Festival, Changan partnered with NIO to officially establish Changan NIO, with Changan Automobile and NIO each holding 45% and the other 10% held by the executive team.

However, as NIO gradually gained a foothold in the domestic new energy market, and the highly competitive market made it difficult for it to spare energy to focus on other businesses. In 2020, Li Bin stepped down as the chairperson of Changan NIO, officially ending this stage.

Of course, NIO did not fully withdraw, but the shares fell to less than 5%. But as the leading party, Changan did not give up, but continued to extend the life of "Changan NIO" through capital increase, and officially changed its name to Avita Technology in May 2021.

Avita 11

It is worth mentioning that as early as 2015, Changan released the "518" new energy vehicle development strategy, planning to launch 34 new energy vehicle models in 10 years. Then in 2017, Changan also announced the "Shangri-La Plan", which is expected to completely stop selling fuel vehicles in 2025. But today, both plans can be said to have failed.

The market will not stop because of a certain company’s strategic problems. Seeing Geely’s Jikrypton, Dongfeng’s Lantu and other brands gradually rise in the market, Changan, which is seriously out of touch with the new energy market, has undoubtedly become the "that person" who is caught off guard and on pins and needles.

In order not to be "abandoned" by the market, Changan not only had to keep "Changan NIO", but also use external forces to catch up. Therefore, after NIO left, Changan "introduced" Huawei and Ningde Times, two heavyweight friends, through capital increases.

At present, the top five shareholders of Avita are Changan 39.02%, Ningde Times 23.99%, Chongqing Chengan 19.01%, Southern Assets 8.73%, Fujian Mindong 5.00%, and NIO retains a 1.13% shareholding ratio. It is worth mentioning that behind Chongqing Chengan are Chongqing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Liangjiang New Area.

Avita’s shareholding structure

Changan, Huawei, Ningde Times, state-owned assets… When these words appeared in the introduction of the same company, the imagination of the market and consumers was instantly opened. Since the official announcement of the cooperation in May last year, Avita has become the expectation of many people.

Unfortunately, in the blooming market environment, Changan overestimated the enthusiasm of consumers. Shortly after changing its name, Avita gradually "disappeared" from the track. Until recently, a press conference reminded people again that Changan also has a high-end brand of new energy vehicles.

From experience, the promotion of new brands during the release and official delivery window is crucial, and the recent Avita 11 overwhelming advertising is undoubtedly a good momentum.

Everything has its pros and cons. While Changan allows consumers to remember Avita, it has also ushered in some controversial issues.

Name, appearance, emotion theory, Avita sparks controversy

Judging from a large number of netizens’ comments, Avita’s name has attracted much attention.

Avita is taken from the English Avatr, which means virtual avatar in the game or online world. The official gave the word a deeper meaning, that is, to create another self in the intelligent parallel world for each user. This car is also defined as "emotional intelligent electric car, understand your intelligent avatar".

Such an explanation sounds very cultural and representative, but at first glance it will make people feel that it is an overseas brand. Too Westernized and without Chinese characteristics, "I feel a little foreign and foreign" has become a voice.

At the same time, the English Avatr of Avita is similar to the English of the science fiction movie "Avatar", except that one letter is missing, which is easy to confuse. Not only that, the name Avita is also difficult to remember compared to other traditional car brands.

Among the many elements of a brand, the name is the core element of the brand and the basis for forming the brand concept. If a brand wants to expand its influence, it must first make consumers remember the brand name. Compared with the previous Xiaocangxailis, it was difficult to get consumers’ attention at first, but after its model was named "Ask the World", the development momentum improved significantly.

Avita is not easy to remember, nor does it have many characteristics. If the product is not particularly outstanding, it may be difficult to familiarize everyone with this brand.

In addition to the name, as the first model of Avita, the appearance of the Avita 11 to be delivered is also "difficult to say". When it comes to appearance design, Changan’s ability is not weak, and even has a high level. For example, its UNI series has won the love of many young people just because of its appearance.

But according to the current official promotional map, the Avita 11 is a coupe SUV with a slippery back. The front is too "simple", and there are no other elements except for the separate design of daytime running lights and headlights, but the light group is too narrow and long, looking a little hideous and awkward.

Avita 11 front

The side of the car is still normal, but the biggest difference in the back of the car is that its rear glass area is very small and it is sunken inward. This design may minimize the drag coefficient, but for the sake of the drag coefficient, it sacrifices the appearance that consumers value, and may affect the rear view. Is this really cost-effective?

The most controversial aspect of Avita, compared with the name and the appearance of the "sitting" model, is its theory of "emotional intelligence".

At the brand launch, compared to the product information introduction of Avita 11, Avita Chairperson and CEO Tan Benhong spent more time interpreting Avita’s brand definition, namely "emotional intelligent electric vehicle", and proposed "E.I. user request theory system".

Avita Launch

From Tan Benhong’s explanation of "emotional intelligence", Avita’s pursuit is to "add personal touch" to the car, just like a consumer’s confidant, so that consumers can feel the meaning of Avita emotionally, rather than just limited to a machine.

The competition of new energy automobile brands has already risen to the intelligent level. The new brand release does not involve the word intelligent, and it seems that it is embarrassing to introduce it to consumers. The continuous involution of the brand has enriched the intelligent interaction experience of automobiles, and the functions and forms have become more and more complex.

Avita’s invisible and intangible metaphysical concept is more like a deliberate gimmick to be different from AI artificial intelligence.

Anxiety over control under multiple interests

There is no eternal cooperation, only eternal interests. As a result of the cooperation of giants, Avita may be limited to the capital triangle.

For Huawei, which provides software systems and platforms to a number of automakers, the purpose of its layout is very obvious in the era of software-defined smart cars.

From the perspective of the industrial chain, Huawei will grasp the core of smart cars, grasp the traffic entrance of smart cars, and compete with car manufacturers for more has the voice over. Or through the cooperation of multiple manufacturers to accumulate production experience, and finally build their own cars.

Although Avita advertises as "the first emotional intelligent electric vehicle brand with Huawei’s HI full-stack smart car solution", based on the fact that Avita is one of Huawei’s many partners, there is no "halo" effect for consumers at all.

And also think about it, if Avita really enters the Huawei channel, then the Huawei exhibition hall with the M5 is now placed, can it still squeeze Avita 11?

Huawei store ask the world M5

Let’s talk about the "battery Mao" Ningde era, as a battery manufacturer, Ningde era in order to improve the vehicle company has the voice over, as well as the bargaining power in the market, in the past two years, gradually through financing means to invest in new energy vehicle companies, such as Nezha Automobile, Aichi Automobile, Byton Automobile and Geely Krypton and other brands.

In the same way, as more and more car companies cooperate with Ningde Times, the "halo" of Ningde Times is no longer a halo. The difference is that Ningde Times may have another purpose in entering Avita this time. Whether it is the Kirin battery previously released by Ningde Times or the highly integrated CTC technology to be launched in 2025, Avita may be one of the first brands to be put into use.

The use of new technologies and the improvement of vehicle competitiveness will lay the foundation for its foothold in the high-end market. This is also the reason why CATL will invest in Avita, which is more like a "test field" for power battery black technology.

As a "leader", Changan certainly knew that it was a big "hidden danger" to let its partners "master" the most important power battery in electric vehicles and the intelligence of its views, but it had to choose to compromise.

On the one hand, as a leading enterprise in the field of autonomous vehicle enterprises, Changan has been in a marginal position in the field of new energy. If it does not try its best to catch up in the short term, the gap will only widen until it is abandoned by the market. On the other hand, whether it is power batteries or intelligence, the research and development costs are extremely high, which is not something that traditional automobile companies can afford. Choosing cooperation is undoubtedly the best choice.

In this way, the three parties can be said to have "each mind". As a new brand, with the gradual development of Avita, once a certain part of the three-party cooperation changes, it may become a major disaster for Avita. This will not only make people think, after the embryonic stage, how much support will the three parties give Avita?

Nowadays, new energy vehicles are getting more and more crowded, and whether the track can accommodate Avita, a new player, the market will provide the answer.

Nowadays, the car as a second living space can no longer meet the needs of young people only by relying on the three basic parts. It is smarter and more entertaining to capture the hearts of young people. Today we will talk about this Sanhao SUV, which is the best-selling SUV under its umbrella.

Five years ago, a sentence of "Hello, Boyue" ushered in the era of Chinese cars leading the world in intelligence. Now, Boyue X is listed, up the ante on the three good qualities of good-looking, easy-to-open and smart, inheriting the foundation of the Boyue family, injecting the new soul of X with "Flux energy surging, Relax enjoying freedom, Outfox outsmarting the future", and becoming a Chinese style intelligent SUV.

Powerful chip guarantees fast and smooth response, and AI voice is full of fun

One of the highlights of Boyue X this time is the Galaxy OS intelligent control center jointly built by Yikatong Technology, Geely and Baidu. This car-machine system adopts a new design method in voice interaction. It not only has new technology inside, but also is very user-friendly, once again defining the new standard of the 4.0 era of automotive intelligent digital cockpit. Geely Galaxy OS adopts a new generation of E02 high-performance digital cockpit computing power platform, 12nm process, 6G random access memory, 64G storage memory, and 8-core CPU, which makes the whole vehicle faster, the system response is faster, and the application switching is smoother. In addition, as the first mass-produced model of Baidu’s independently developed Honghu chip, Boyue X is equipped with Baidu Honghu intelligent voice computing platform and Mobileye EQ4 intelligent driving computing platform. The powerful chip integrated in multiple domains allows Boyue X intelligent cockpit hardware level to exceed the same level, greatly improving the wake-up speed, making the interaction experience smoother, just like a real-time conversation with friends.

This time, the AI real voice on Boyue X can record the voice of your closest relatives as a real voice package. At the same time, you can customize Q & A, talk and interact with relatives and friends in the car, and the boring driving becomes full of fun. It can be seen that the wake-up control can be directly read on the screen, reducing manual operation, and escorting the safety of you and your family.

All-dimensional interaction is intelligent and convenient, and the intimate cockpit atmosphere is full

The new intelligent AI interactive cockpit of Boyue X helps you bid farewell to the cold machine, and the whole vehicle brings a more considerate and warm driving experience. From the perspective of atmosphere, Boyue X directly fills the standard. The 72-color light-sensing interactive ambient lights equipped with the high-end version can link driving, sound and music, and 12 BOSE sound like a moving music hall, bringing palace-level sound effects.

There are also meters, cars, and HUD three-screen linkage, content display seamless connection, support for navigation three-finger sliding screen, instrument full-screen display navigation, so that drivers do not miss every intersection; 540 ° panoramic image with chassis perspective, smart non-sensory mobile phone digital key and mobile APP remote control, directly beyond the same level, shoulder-to-shoulder luxury. It is worth mentioning that the Boyue X is also equipped with a visual L2 + level intelligent driving assistance system, which can follow the car, recognize the road, avoid danger, remind, actively stop, actively follow, and automatically turn corners. At the same time, there are corresponding animations on the instrument for cars, cars, trucks, and pedestrians, which display the following distance in real time. Intelligent driving assistance is more visual, allowing drivers to understand the vehicle conditions and road conditions, and add a safety guarantee for themselves and their families.

Open ecosystem is fully covered to meet the entertainment needs of the younger generation of users

When it comes to Boyue X, the most interesting thing for young people is to launch Tencent TAI3.0, Huawei Hi-car and other ecological applications on Boyue X in conjunction with Tencent, Huawei and other first-tier manufacturers. The car covers music, video, navigation, life, games, WeChat, Douyin, smart home and other applications, so that social and entertainment can be seamlessly connected in travel and daily life, and truly drive with eyes and hands, and communicate with mouth and ears. In-car WeChat voice calls and location sharing can be realized synchronously; Huawei Hi-car is automatically connected to the Internet, automatically flows and switches between the car and mobile phones, and collaborates across screens, which is very convenient. When relaxing in the car, listen to music, brush Douyin, and watch videos. Who can resist such a pleasant experience?

Over the past five years, the Boyue family has won the trust of super 1.36 million users with the three good qualities of "good-looking, easy-to-drive and smart". From the pioneering "Hello Boyue" voice interaction in the industry to the full adoption of car-grade chip hardware, Boyue has been leading the intelligent development trend of China’s smart cars. Not only top-selling in the domestic market, it has occupied the top three SUV sales in China for many years, but also sells well in 25 countries and regions such as Russia/Philippines/Malaysia in Europe, Asia and America. It is one of the fastest models to break through the 1 million in the entire SUV market.

In the future, Boyue will continue to listen to the voice of users, guided by user requests, and continue to innovate and break through to cover a larger market to meet the different needs of young users in the new era. Boyue will use its strength to face the future market, take everyone to continue to travel south and north, and move towards the distance together with the same original intention.